Arabic MS 60 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Display:

Arabic Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: Manuscript copy of the fable collection entitled Kalīlah wa-Dimnah by Abū al-Maʿālī Abd Allāh Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ dated 1240 AH (1824 CE), written in an Egyptian hand.
Author: Abū al-Maʿālī Abd Allāh Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ أبو المعالي عبد الله ابن المقفّع
Title: Kalīlah wa Dimnah
Title: كليلة ودمنة
Title: The Fables of Bidpai

Introduction begins after the basmalah and the ḥamdalah: اعلم ان كتاب كليلة ودمنة كان وضعه حكماء الهند لملو كهم في الزمان الاول ولم يزل في خزانتهم ... حتي ملك علي الفرس انوشروان

Folios 2b-4a: list of sisteen bābs.

Colophon on folio 97b (cf. seventh line from below).

  • 16b: The lion and the bull;
  • 40b: The trial of Dimnah;
  • 48a: The ring-dove;
  • 57b: The owls and the crows;
  • 69a: The ape and the tortoise;
  • 72a: The hermit and the weasel;
  • 73b: The rat and the cat;
  • 75b: The king and the bird Fatrah;
  • 77b: The King of India, his vizier Bilādh, and his mistress Halabat;
  • 90b: The lioness and the horseman;
  • 91b: The hermit and the guest;
  • 92b: The goldsmith and the traveller;
  • 94b: The king's son and his companions.

Incipit: اعلم ان كتاب كليلة ودمنة كام وضعه حكماء الهند لملوكهم في الزمان الاول ولم يزل في خزانتهم ... حتى ملك على الفرس انوشروان
Colophon: في يوم الاربعاء تاسع عشرين رمضان سنة الف ومايتين واربعين
Language(s): Arabic

References

Catalogue no. Arabic MS 488 [60]

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Paper
Extent: 97 folios (i+97+[1]+i)
Dimensions (leaf): 248 × 170 mm.
Dimensions (written): 150 × 90 mm.
Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil in Western Arabic numerals.

Collation

9 quires: i-v10 (ff. 1-60), vi8 (ff. 61-68), vii-ix10 (ff. 69-97+1 unfoliated leaf). Signatures in the upper left corner of each quire with Eastern Arabic numerals. Catchword on every verso.

Condition

Layout

Uniform layout. Rubricated. Broad margins.

Binding

Half-bound with red leather corners and spine and marble paper covers.

History

Origin: It was produced in the 1240 AH (1824 CE) in ; Egypt.

Provenance and Acquisition

Formerly part of the collection of the Persian scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865); see label on back paste-down: Bland No. 141.

Bland’s oriental manuscripts were sold through Bernard Quaritch in 1866 to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford; his bookplate on the back paste-down: Bibliotheca Lindesiana 3/D.

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) Rylands, Enriqueta, 1843–1908 in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913) Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847–1913 .

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to John Rylands Library.

Record Sources

Catalogue information compiled by Abdullah al-Rashidi from A. Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1934), 488 [60], revised and expanded by Zsófia Buda.

Availability

To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.

Digital Images

Library Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)

-->

Bibliography

Subjects

TO TOP

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.