King's Pote 90 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Nahj al-Balāgha (in Persian translation).

Author: (attributed to) ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Caliph, ca. 600-661 على بن ابى طالب

Compiler: Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, ʿAlam al-Hudā ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, 966-1044 or 1045 الشريف المرتضى، علي بن الحسين، 355-436 هـ

Compiler: (or al-Sharīf Murtaḍā's brother) Sharīf al-Raḍī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn, 969 or 970-1016 شريف الرضى، محمد بن الحسين

Translator: Nūr Muḥammad ibn Qāz̤i ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Qāz̤i Ṭāhir Muḥammad al-Maḥallī ابن قاصى عبد العزيز

Title: Nahj al-Balāgha (in Persian translation)

Title: نهج البلاغة

Title: ترجمهء نهج البلاغة

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Colophon further notes: The translation was finished on 27 Shaʿbān 1028, by Nūr Muḥammad b. Qāżi ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Qāżi Ṭāhir Muḥammad al-Maḥallī.

Note concerning manuscript: In two parts of roughly equal size.

Note concerning work: Homilies and sayings of ʿAlī b. Abū Ṭālib. Arabic text followed paragraph by paragraph by the Persian translation which was completed in 1028/1619.

References

Browne no. 1341

Palmer no. 90

Geschichte der arabischen Literatur C. Brockelmann 1892-1902 (2 vols. plus supplements) GAL I.404-5; GAL Supp. I.705

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: c. 300 Folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 22.8 × 13.3 cm.

Dimensions (written): 15.3 × 7.5 cm.

Foliation: Neither foliated nor paginated.

Layout

19 lines per page.

Ruled in gold, red and blue. Rubrications in red. Catchwords.

Hand(s)

Script: naskh. Quality: Beautiful. Scribe: Anonymous.

Decoration

F.1v: an illuminated sarlauh (blue and gold).

Additions:

F.1r: the seal of ʿIbād Allāh, 1188. Within the body of the codex there are a few places where a long rectangular seal has been erased. Two have been erased either side of the colophon.

Signs of collation.

Binding

Dark brown leather with reddish leather spine. Plain leather doublures. Decorations: Pressure moulded turanj and two pendants (painted in gold). Condition: Worm damage. Dimensions: 22.5 × 12.8 × 4.5 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 181.

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

Hadith

Comments

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