King's Pote 3 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Inshā-yi Abū al-Faz̤l.

Author: Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak, 1551-1602 ابو الفضل بن مبارك

Note concerning author: Abū al-Fażl ʿAllāmī was the prime minister of Emperor Akbar.

Title: Inshā-yi Abū al-Faz̤l

Title: Mukātibāt-i ʿAllāmī

Title: انشاى ابو الفضل

Title: مكاتبات علامى

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: 14 Ramaḍān 1109 (42nd year of Aurangzeb) / 26 Mar 1698 Scribe: Muḥammad Ashraf ibn Mawlānā ʿAlī محمد اشرف ولد مولانا على .

Colophon further notes: F.253 contains a colophon that is likely a copy of the damaged original.

Note concerning manuscript: 8 folios have been supplied in another hand.

Note concerning work: Epistolary models.

References

Browne no. 101

Palmer no. 3

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 p.396 [BL Add. 6548 (title: Mukātabāt-i ʿAllāmī)]

Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office (2 vols.) H. Ethé 1903-37 col.111, no. 287 [BL IO Islamic 2357]

Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library E. Sachau and H. Ethé 1889 col.841, no. 1378 [Bodl. 777]

Mughals in India: a bibliographical survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts D.N. Marshall 1962 p.34; p.35

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: F.1v: begins with a bismillah on different paper in a different hand. F.168 and f.253 (the final folio) are also on different paper in a different hand.

Extent: 253 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 22.5 × 15.5 cm.

Dimensions (written): 16 × 9.5 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Condition

F.2 and a few thereafter have marginal repairs.

Layout

15 lines per page.

Hand(s)

Script: Indian nastaʿlīq. Quality: Fair. Scribe: Muḥammad Ashraf ibn Mawlānā ʿAlī محمد اشرف ولد مولانا على.

Additions:

Flyleaf: an English note in the hand of Henry Bradshaw gives details of the collation (of quires). F.1r: Polier's seal (1181). F.246: an unusual 8-lobed seal, all but erased.

Collated by scribe - numerous marks of ṣaḥḥa .

Binding

Brown leather with gold inlay. Marbled paper doublures. Decorations: Gold inlay: turanj, 2 pendants, 4 corner pieces, decorated with floral designs. Condition: Good. Dimensions: 22.3 × 15.7 × 3 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 27.

History

Origin: 14 Ramaḍān 1109 (42nd year of Aurangzeb) AH; 26 Mar 1698 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