Eton Pote 278(2) (Eton College Library, Eton College)

Pote Collection

Summary of Contents: 1 copy of Taʾrīkh ʿĀlam-ārā.

Author: Khūzānī Iṣfahānī, Faz̤lī Bayg خوزانى اصفهانى، فضلى بيگ

Note concerning author: Faz̤lī is the author of Afz̤al al-Tavārīkh. Charles Melville found that work was related to Iskandar Beg Munshi's work of this title: Taʾrīkh ʿĀlam-ārā-yi 'Abbasi. See his discovery in Christ's College library Dd.5.6: http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bcai/31/30/. See also Melville's "A lost source for the reign of Shah 'Abbas: The Afzal al-tawarikh of Fazli Khuzani Isfahani" on JSTOR: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4311148. Could this be yet another manuscript mixing the two works?!

Title: Taʾrīkh ʿĀlam-ārā

Title: Afz̤al al-Tavārīkh

Title: تاريخ عالم آرای

Title: افضل التواريخ

Language(s): Persian

Colophon details: Date: Rabīʿ II 1112 / Sep-Oct 1700 Scribe: Anonymous.

Note concerning work: This is probably not the work Afz̤al al-Tavārīkh - see note against Eton Pote 278_1.

References

Margoliouth no. 173 (shelf/item: 17/1)

Persian Literature: a bio-bibliographical survey C. A. Storey 1927–39 I.1 p.301 (ta'rikh i alam-ara by Fadli Ispahani vol I: also I.2 p.1280: Rieu Supp 56 is immediate continuation)

Mughals in India: a bibliographical survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts D.N. Marshall 1962 p.545; p.145

Physical Description

Form: codex

Extent: 428 folios.

Dimensions (leaf): 30.5 × 16 cm.

Dimensions (written): 23 × 9 cm.

Foliation: Foliated.

Layout

21 lines per page.

Not ruled. Rubrications in red.

Hand(s)

Scribe: Anonymous.

Additions:

F.1r: seal of Polier (1181); two other seals and notes.

Binding

Reddish brown leather, European style. Plain paper doublures. Dimensions: 31 × 16 × 5.5 cm. Unboxed. Polier's number: 736.

History

Origin: Rabīʿ II 1112 AH; Sep-Oct 1700 CE

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 second half alphabetically going to Eton. 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 D.S. Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of Eton College, Oxford, 1904 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

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World