King's Pote 95 (King's College Library, King's College Cambridge)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Tārīkh-i Vaṣṣāf.

Author: Vaṣṣāf al-Ḥaz̤rat, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Faz̤l Allāh, 1264 or 5-1329? وصاف الحضرة، عبد الله بن فضل الله شيرازی

Title: Tārīkh-i Vaṣṣāf

Title: Tajziyat al-Amṣār va-Tazjiyat al-Aʿṣār

Title: تاريخ وصاف

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Undated Scribe: Anonymous.

Colophon further notes: No colophon - incomplete at the end (perhaps missing 20 folios).

Note concerning manuscript: F.1r: a table of contents with page numbers which seems to relate to selections from this work used in another work. Ff.3v-8v: a table of contents to the work itself including page numbers. Seems to only contain volume 5 (of the 5 total) although Browne stated it contains all five volumes, but the fifth is defective at the end.

Note concerning work: A history of the Mongol rulers of Persia from 656-712 (1258-1312).

References

Browne no. 255

Palmer no. 95

Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.) C. Rieu 1879-1883 pp.161-64 [BL Add. 23517]

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 I.1 p.269

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 421 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 24.5 × 12.2 cm.

Dimensions (written): 17 × 7 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Condition

Worming.

Layout

25 lines per page.

Not ruled. Rubrications in red and blue.

Hand(s)

Script: nastaʿlīq. Quality: (from f.329v the hand changes to a neat shikasta). Scribe: Anonymous.

Additions:

F.11r (the first folio of the main text): a seal (… al-mulk, slave of Shāhjahān). The manuscript contains numerous marginal notes often amounting to a commentary filling the margins.

Binding

Marbled paper on suede. Plain paper doublures. Decorations: The spine is embossed: "Tarikh I Wasaf…". Dimensions: 15 × 12.5 × 4.7 cm. Boxed. Polier's number: 165.

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

Mongols--History--To 1500

Comments

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