King's Pote 5 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

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Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Āʾīn-i Akbarī.

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

Title: Āʾīn-i Akbarī

Title: آئين اكبرى

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Colophon further notes: The colophon is on f.553.

Note concerning manuscript: A high quality manuscript.

Note concerning work: Āʾīn-i Akbarī is the 3rd volume of the Akbar-nāmah.

References

Browne no. 144

Palmer no. 5

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 p.251 [BLAdd. 7652]

Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office (2 vols.) H. Ethé 1903-37 col.107, no. 264 [BL IO Islamic 6]

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 I.1 p.549

Mughals in India: a bibliographical survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts D.N. Marshall 1962 p.33

A catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the University of Cambridge, E. Browne (1896) p.166, no. 92 [Camb. Nn. 3.57]

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Paper is thin, burnished cream.

Extent: 553 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 29.5 × 16.5 cm.

Dimensions (written): 22.3 × 11.3 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Condition

Minor worm damage to margins.

Layout

15 lines per page.

Ruled in double red and dark blue outer. Rubrications in red. Catchwords.

Hand(s)

Script: nastaʿlīq. Quality: Good. Scribe: Anonymous.

Additions:

First flyleaf: an erased seal. Flyleaf: an English note in the hand of Henry Bradshaw gives details of the collation (of quires). F.1r: the seal of Polier (1181). F.1v: a note states the work was written (i.e. composed) by Abū al-Faẓl. The manuscript contains numerous charts in red and black, e.g. ff.44-49 (prices of ingredients for recipes) and ff.75-9 (weaponry).

Binding

European style. Brown leather with gold inlay. Doublures: reddish brown leather. Decorations: Gold inlay: floral patterns on turanj, two pendants, four corner pieces, within a double band of cartouches and corner-pieces. Doublures ruled with gold. Condition: The spine is damaged. The upper board is detached, lower board is loose. Dimensions: 29.4 × 16.5 × 5.5 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 42.

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

Funding of Cataloguing

King's College Cambridge

Subjects

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