King's Pote 108 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Rawz̤at Ūlī al-Albāb.

Author: Banākatī, Dāvūd ibn Muḥammad, d. 1329 or 30 داود بن محمد فخر الدين بناكتى

Title: Rawz̤at Ūlī al-Albāb

Title: روضة اولى الالباب

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: 2 Shawwāl 980 / 5 Feb 1573 Scribe: Anonymous.

Note concerning work: A general history, composed in 717/1317-18.

References

Browne no. 716

Palmer no. 108.1

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 pp.79-80 [BL Add. 7626]

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 I.1 p.79 (980H)

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 162 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 24.6 × 17.5 cm.

Dimensions (written): 17.5 × 12.3 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Condition

Moderate worm damage. Most folios have marginal repairs.

Layout

20 lines per page.

Ruled in blue with a red outer. Rubrications in red. Red overlining for proper names,.

Hand(s)

Script: nastaʿlīq. Quality: Legible. Scribe: Anonymous.

Additions:

Flyleaf: covered in inspection notes of the Mughal court (dates: year 4, year 32, year 19) and a circular seal dated 109(7) of Qābil Khān connected to ʿĀlamgīr (r. 1068-1119 / 1658-1707). For his seal of 1097 and his role in the Mughal royal library see p.255 of J. Seyller, "The Inspection and Valuation of Manuscripts in the Imperial Mughal Library", Artibus Asiae, Vol. 57 (1997). F.1r: two circular seals erased and a note dated 1090. Final page: a circular seal alongside the colophon is illegible.

A few marks of ṣaḥḥa with corrections in the original hand.

Binding

Brown leather, Indian style. Decorations: Gold inlaid decoration: a border, corners, turanj and two pendants. Condition: The spine is torn. Dimensions: 24.3 × 17 × 2.8 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 149.

History

Origin: 2 Shawwāl 980 AH; 5 Feb 1573 CE

Provenance and Acquisition

The "Pote Collection" arrived in England from India in 1790 and was divided between the Colleges of Eton and King's, Cambridge, with the first half alphabetically going to King's. Both halves of the collection are now housed in Cambridge University Library on permanent loan. Most if not all of the manuscripts had previously been owned by Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri Polier (1741–1795).

Gift of Edward Ephraim Pote (d.1832) in 1788.

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on E. G. Browne, "A supplementary hand-list of the Muhammadan manuscripts, including all those written in the Arabic character, preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge", Cambridge, 1922 and E. H. Palmer, "Catalogue of the oriental manuscripts in the library of King's College, Cambridge", J.R.A.S. v.3 (1867), pp.105-131 enhanced with additional descriptions and corrections by Shiva Mihan.

Availability

All manuscripts of the Pote Collection are on permanent loan at Cambridge University Library. Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures consult Cambridge University Library. Contact near_eastern@lib.cam.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World