King's Pote 216 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Zād al-Musāfirīn (“the Pilgrims’ Provision”).

Author: Nāṣir-i Khusraw, 1004-ca 1088 ناصر خسرو

Note concerning author: Nāṣir-i Khusraw was the celebrated poet, traveller and Ismaʿīlī missionary.

Title: Zād al-Musāfirīn (“the Pilgrims’ Provision”)

Title: زاد المسافرين

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Note concerning work: An ethical work.

References

Browne no. 730

Palmer no. 216

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 256 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 19.1 × 12.2 cm.

Dimensions (written): 13 × 6 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Condition

Worming and water damage. Repairs to worm damage. Repairs to the margins of the initial and final folios.

Layout

17 lines per page.

Not ruled. Rubrications in red. Catchwords.

Hand(s)

Script: nastaʿlīq. Scribe: Anonymous.

Additions:

Upper doublure: notes in English signed E.G. Browne (16.4.1921): "This is a very rare book: the only other ms I know belonged formerly to M. Ch. Schefer, and is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Of this [?] I had a copy made for my own use". On the flyleaf opposite Browne has added a table of contents, providing folio numbers for chapters 1 to 15 of 27 total. F.1r: octagonal seal dated 1167 (Rājā Kīshūrāv) and some notes. F.256 (end): the same seal.

Signs of collation.

Binding

Plain brown leather, European style. Plain paper doublures (watermarked). Dimensions: 19.7 × 12.2 × 3.4 cm. Unboxed. Polier's number: 525.

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