Persian MS 707 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For another work by this author on the fretting of musical instruments, see Rieu Supplement, British Library Or. 2361, no. IV. For another volume completed by this same scribe for Hamilton, see Rieu I .
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 13 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in black nasta‘līq script with subheaders and marks in red.
Inscription:
- The second right flyleaf (f. iia) bears a Persian inscription identifying the volume, probably in the hand of Muhīn Dās, assistant to former owner Colonel George William Hamilton :
‘ رساله در علم موسیقی یعنی موسوم بمقاررت النعیم تصنیف قا ’
‘ Risālah dar ‘Ilm-i Mūsīqī ya‘nī mawsūm bi-muqārarat al-na‘īm, taṣnīf-i Qāsim ibn Dūst ‘Alī al-Bukhārī. ’
- Left paste-down: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘1/H’, ‘Hamilton MSS’ ‘No. 624’.
Binding
Bound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868). Unsupported sewing at two stations adhered to the inside of the boards. Twined chevron endbands in red and green silk worked at head and tail. Covered full, smooth polished maroon goatskin leather over pasteboards, with defined joints, squares along the edges of the boards, and without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Doublures of the same leather line the interior, with the excess put down as hinges onto the first and last flyeleaves, overlaid with a strip of paper cut with a decorative zig-zag cut along one edge to disguise the join.
Boards margins stained black then double-ruled in yellow on either side.
233 × 153 × 11 mm.
Binding in good condition, with whitened salts on the leather surface (spew) due to exposure to moisture.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi, where he collected over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts.
After his death, the British Museum selected 352 volumes, now held in the British Library, after which Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) obtained the remainder.
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, and in consultation with Dr. Katherine Butler Schofield regarding the text and its author.
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
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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