King's Pote 87 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

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Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Ṣafvat al-Ṣafā.

Author: Tawakkul ibn Ismāʻīl, -1371 توكل بن اسماعيل

Editor: Abū al-Fatḥ al-Ḥusaynī ابو الفتح الحسينى

Note concerning author: Abū al-Fatḥ (the editor) worked in the time of Shāh Ṭahmāsp.

Title: Ṣafvat al-Ṣafā

Title: Taẕkirah-i Sulṭān Shāh Ṣafā

Title: صفوة الصفا

Title: تذكرهء سلطان شاه صفى

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Colophon further notes: 26 Shawwāl. No year is provided.

Note concerning work: An account of the life and miracles of Shaykh Ṣafī al-dīn Isḥāq, the ancestor of the Ṣafavī kings of Persia. The older recension of this rare biography.

References

Browne no. 837

Palmer no. 87

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 pp.345-6 [BL Add. 11745]

Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office (2 vols.) H. Ethé 1903-37 col.1008, no. 1842 [BL IO Islamic 1098]

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 I.2 p.940

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 249 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 30.1 × 18.5 cm.

Dimensions (written): 22.5 × 11.5 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Condition

Minor worm damage. Some water damage on corners. Some repairs to worm damage.

Layout

25 lines per page.

Ruled in red, gold and blue with a wider single blue frame defining the margin. Rubrications in red. Catchwords.

Hand(s)

Script: Indian nastaʿlīq. Scribe: Anonymous.

Decoration

F.1v: an illuminated sarlauh part of which is pasted on from another manuscript. Ff.1v-2r and f.7v: interlinear gold.

Additions:

Some signs of collation.

Binding

Reddish brown and dark brown leather, Indian style. Plain leather doublures. Decorations: Gold inlaid turanj and two pendants, corner pieces and a border of cartouches, with two dotted bands. Dimensions: 30.3 × 17.7 × 3.6 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 176.

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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