King's Pote 12 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Iʿjāz Khusravī.

Author: Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī, ca. 1253-1325 امير خسرو دهلوى

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Shaykh Aḥmad Qādirī شيخ احمد قادرى .

Colophon further notes: The internal colophon on f.322v is dated (at the end of the fourth treatise). 12 Jumādā II year 34 of unnamed ruler (if Akbar, 996; if Aurangzeb, 1101) / (if Akbar, 1588; if Aurangzeb 1690). The scribe is named in internal colophon f.167v (the end of the second work). The third work is in the hand of Sayyid Asad Allāh.

Note concerning manuscript: Contains 5 treatises in multiple hands: 1st: ff.1v-f.48v; 2nd: ff.49v-167v; 3rd: ff.169v-207v; 4th: ff.209v-322v (with dated colophon); 5th: ff.323v-391v.

Note concerning work: An epistolary manual composed in 719/1319.

References

Browne no. 69

Palmer no. 12

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 p.527 [BL Add. 16841]

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 391 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 27.8 × 16.5 cm.

Dimensions (written): 20 × 10.7 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Condition

Severe worm damage.

Layout

23 lines per page.

Ruled in double red with a blue outer and a wider frame in single blue. Rubrications in red.

Hand(s)

Script: Indian nastaʿlīq. Quality: (various hands). Scribe: Shaykh Aḥmad Qādirī شيخ احمد قادرى.

Additions:

F.1r: Polier's seal (1181) and various inspection notes in shikasta and naskh (Shah ʿĀlamgīr, Shāhjahān, etc, but in same hand; variously dated: 16 Ṣafar, year 1 of Shāh Jahān II, i.e .1131; 19 Shaʿbān year 27, Muḥammad Shāhī, i.e 1157; 14 Ramaḍān, year 28, Muḥammad Shāhī, i.e. 1158; 9 Rajab, yr 1, Aḥmad Shāhī, i.e 1161; 12 Rabi' II, year 3 of ʿĀlamgīr II, i.e. 1169; 15 Jumādā II, year 3 of Shāh ʿĀlam, i.e. 1175.

Signs of collation.

Binding

Brown leather, European style. European paper doublures. Dimensions: 28.5 × 17 × 4.5 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 21.

History

Origin: Undated.

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