King's Pote 255 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Shawāhid al-Rubūbīyah (“Evidences of Divinity”).

Author: ̣Ṣadr al-dīn Shīrāzī, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm, Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1641) صدر الدين الشيرازى، محمد بن ابراهيم، ملا صدرا

Title: Shawāhid al-Rubūbīyah (“Evidences of Divinity”)

Title: شواهد الربوبية

Language(s): Arabic

Colophon details: Date: End of Shaʿbān 1119 / Nov 1707 Scribe: Ibn Muḥammad Ibrāhīm ʿAzīz Allāh ابن محمد ابراهيم عزيز الله .

Note concerning manuscript: A high quality copy. The colophon specifies that the ms contains 6410 bayts (lines) and 124 folios.

Note concerning work: A philosophical work.

References

Browne no. 818

Palmer no. 255

Gobineau’s Les Religion et les Philosophies dans l’Asie Centrale (ed. 1866), pp.80-91

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Cream, well-burnished.

Extent: c. 124 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 20 × 12 cm.

Dimensions (written): 14.8 × 7.4 cm.

Foliation: Neither foliated nor paginated but quires of 4 bifolios are numbered up to 31.

Condition

Occasional worm damage.

Layout

15 lines per page.

Ruled in gold outlined with black, with an outer frame of 2 black lines. Rubrications in gold. Catchwords.

Hand(s)

Script: naskh with elements of thulth. Quality: Beautiful. Scribe: Ibn Muḥammad Ibrāhīm ʿAzīz Allāh ابن محمد ابراهيم عزيز الله.

Decoration

F.1v: an illuminated sarlauh in gold and blue with floral motifs.

Additions:

F.1r: an inspection note dated 10 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1154 (a rectangular stamp was probably scribbled over at that date). A second stamp on the same page is dated 1164. The manuscript contains many marginal notes in other hands, in red and in black.

Collated with ṣaḥḥa in black (another hand) and multiple sigla.

Binding

Red and cream striped cloth envelope cover with an envelope flap (over a cardboard binding). Condition: The spine and the flap are worn. Dimensions: 20.4 × 12.4 × 2.7 cm. Unboxed. Polier's number: 614.

History

Origin: End of Shaʿbān 1119 AH; Nov 1707 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