Or 15508 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
Oriental Manuscripts
Two collections of letters
Contents
Two collections of letters
An unidentified compilation of formal letters (inshā) of various types, comprising 12 bābs devoted to different types of correspondence and elaborate forms of address (alqāb). By Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, called Shah Muḥammad, and dedicated to (or containing praise of) a certain Muḥammad Fayyāz̤ (3r).
Title supplied.
The text is incomplete at the end.
A treatise on formal letter writing (inshā’). The preface explains circumstances behind the composition of the work: see f. 51r-52r. The author, (??) Nath (52r, line 6), immersed himself from an early age in the intricacies of inshā’. He received the patronage he needed for success after his arrival in Shāhjahānābād (Delhi).
Other contents: f. 1v, former library shelfmark in English: ‘No 25’.
Physical Description
Condition
Worm damage in the margins throughout, not affecting the text.
Hand(s)
Nasta‘līq with elements of shikastah, often difficult to decipher.
Some additions by the copyist in the margins.
Binding
Semi-limp modern grey boards.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
1998-10-15
Acquired from Sotheby's sale 15 October 1998, part of Lot 579.
Record Sources
Availability
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Funding of Cataloguing
BL
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