Persian MS 802 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Foliated in pencilled Arabic numerals on the upper-left corners of the a sides when catalogued.
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 columns with 23 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a very clear nasta‘līq in black with subheaders in red.
- The number ‘IV.10-’ written on the the second right flyleaf a side (f. iia).
- The the third right flyleaf b side (f. iiib) inscribed ‘Nº 3 Ruzat al Safa Vol. 2nd’ in the hand of former owner Sir Gore Ouseley with another note in a different, unidentified hand that indicates the year of complettion.
- Folio 1a bears several notations written in Persian:
- Top-left:‘ من مملکات اقل خلق الله محمد نصیر. ’ (‘From among the possessions of Muḥammad Naṣīr’)
- Centre: An undotted notation ‘بتاریخ ۲۰ شهر محرم سنه ۱۲۲۰ مبلغ...[؟] خریده شد...’ (‘...purchased on 20 Muḥarram [1]122 [AH, 21 Mar. 1710].’
- Former owner Sir Gore Ouseley inscribed his bookplate on the left pastedown ‘To his friend Colonel Fitz Clarence’.
- The third right flyleaf b side (f. iiib) bears the remnants of printed descriptions of the work, likely entries from the catalogue of oriental manuscripts Royal Asiatic Society by former owner William Hook Morley that describes the contents of this volume, given identifiable portions from the same location in Persian MS 806.
- Right pastedown: Sir Gore Ouseley.
- The Left pastedown:
- ‘ِEarl of Munster’
- ‘Col. Fitz Clarence’
- ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ bookplates, with the shelf mark ‘1/D’.
- An earlier Lindesiana label bears a previous class mark, ‘Persian MS 8’ subsequently crossed out.
Binding
Uniformly rebound as a set with six other volumes (Persian MS 801 to 806. Since this appears identical with Persian MS 182, previously owned by Captain Archibald Swinton, whose sale catalogue also lists another lot of an incomplete six-volume set of the same work, it seems that he also likely formerly owned this as well. However, subsequent owners Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844) evidently pasted his bookplate over Swinton's on the left paste down, and George Augustus Frederick FitzClarence replaced the label blocked with Swinton's arms adhered to the uppermost spine panel with his own, as further confirmed by similar gilt decoration evident where the top-right corner of the label tore off.
Abbreviated resewing on six cords, laced into pasteboard, edges trimmed and marbled with a loose serpentine pattern drawn over a stone design in yellow, green, black, and red. Decorative front-bead decorative endbands sewn in red and yellow silk threads. Covered in full, bright green calfskin leather, tight-backed and tight-jointed, with 'Old Dutch' curled patterned marbled endpapers, stiff leaved with plain European-manufactured endleaves, with ~9 laid lines per cm and ~23 mm between chain lines.
Spine fully gilt, with the Earl of Munster's arms blocked in gold on skiver leather labels applied to the top panel. Gilt floriate chain borders on the board perimeters, with floral sprig corners, and board edges tooled with a leaf-and-dart roll.
286 × 201 × 50 mm.
Handle with caution. Exterior and board edges abraded, and joints cracked. Headband missing. Boxed.
1: (Top-left):Partial oval seal trimmed off at top, in two stacked lines, bears a partial name of a former or associate owner named Riz̤ā dated 1147 AH (1734–35 CE).
18
2: A circular seal in three stacked lines bears the name of a former owner Muḥammad Naṣīr, dated [1]111 AH (1699–1700 CE), with ‘43’ indicating the ‘Ālamgīr's regnal year, adjacent to a notation:
‘ نصیر بندهٔ فدوی عالمگیر شاه ’
21 × 21 mm.
3: (Middle): A faint, partially legible pointed oval-shaped impression adjacent to the note ‘Ṣahibuhu (its owner)’, bears the name of a former owner, possibly named Muḥammad Qulī Ḥulūr(?) dated 1043 AH (1633–34 CE), which also appears adjacent to the colophon on 371a, albeit obliterated:
7 × 13 mm.
4 (Spine): The Earl of Munsters arms blocked in gold on a skiver leather label adhered to the upper panel of the spine, features a crest with a chapeau turned up ermine a lion statant gardant crowned with a ducal coronet and gorged with a collar charged with three anchors and motto ‘Motto NEC TEMERE NEC TIMIDE’ surmounted by a coronet.
24 × 13 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Prior Indian owners noted on folio 1a include Muḥammad Qulī Ḥulūr(?) after 1043 AH (1633–34 CE), Muḥammad Naṣīr, after [1]111 AH (1699–1700 CE), and one Riz̤ā, after 1147 AH (1734–35 CE).
Subsequently acquired by Captain Archibald Swinton (1731–1804), who served in the East India Company from 1752 to 1766, initially served as a surgeon then later as an interpreter and emissary for Lord Robert Clive (1725–1774), the first Governor of the Bengal Presidency. After amassing a significant collection of manuscripts and works of art, he returned to Britain where he evidently commissioned the rebinding of the first six volumes of this set together with another that closely matches (Rylands Persian MS 182)
After Swinton's death, James Christie Jr (1773–1831) sold his collection in London on 6 June 1810 (see catalogue, p. 4, ‘2d Set’), where Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844) purchased it for £1 1 shilling
Ouseley then added the last two volumes to complete the set, which later presented to friend George Augustus Frederick FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster (1794–1842), as per his inscription on the right pastedown, presumably after the latter attained the rank of colonel when appointed Aide-de-Camp to his father, William IV, King of Great Britain (b. 1765, r. 1830–1837), on 26 Jul. 1830, but prior to his elevation to the peerage on 4 June 1831.
After FitzClarence's death on 20 Mar. 1842, his eldest son William George FitzClarence, 2nd Earl of Munster (1824–1901) auctioned a portion of his library through one Mr. Wilmot at their home on 13 Upper Belgrave Street, Belgravia, London on 5 April 1843 which omits this title; however, he later sold another portion through Edmund Hodgson on 22 March 1855. The latter sale catalague contains an entry for this work in ‘8 vols., folio, old morocco (2 half-bound)’ which may reference this set (see catalogue). The seller's copy records it sold for £6-12-6; however, it omits the name of the purchaser.
Nevertheless, barrister and orientalist William Hook Morley (1815–1860) evidently acquired these volumes, as after his death, S. Leigh Sotheby & John Wilkinson sold them on 16 March 1861 (p. 66, lot 1035), where bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) purchased it for £8 2s 1d.
The very next day, 17 March 1861, Quaritch sold the set to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) for £12 12s.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand.
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.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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