Arabic MS 239 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Arabic Manuscripts
Contents
Wafayāt al-aʿyān (volume 1 of 2)
Title: وفيات الاعيان وإنباء أبناء الزمان
Title: Book of the Deaths of Celebrities and of the History of Contemporaries
Incipit: حمدا لله الذى تفرد بالبقاء وحكم على عباده بالموت والفناء ... وبعد فهذا مختصر في التاريخ دعاني الى جمعه اني كنت مولعا ... وسميته كتاب شهادة الاعيان
Explicit: محمد بن هاني ... ولعمري ما انصفه في هذا المقال وما حمله على هذا الا فرط تعصبه للمنتبي وبالجملة فما كان الا من المحسنين في النظم والله سبحانه وتعالى اعلم
Language(s): Arabic
References
Catalogue no. Arabic MS 294 [239]
Physical Description
Form: codex
Support: Paper
Extent: 325 folios
Dimensions (leaf): 303 × 205 mm.
Layout
1 column, 29 lines
Hand(s)
Naskh
History
Origin: circa 1650 CE
Provenance and Acquisition
From the collection of Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867 latterly as Commissioner in Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts of which 352 were selected after his death for the British Museum. The remainder were purchased in 1868 by Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, for the John Rylands Library.
Record Sources
Catalogue information compiled by Abdullah al-Rashidi from Alphonse Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester University Press, 1934.
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.
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