Acc. 2023/72 (Leigh Town Hall, Wigan Council Archives: Wigan & Leigh)
Oriental Manuscripts
Six volumes of calligraphy collected by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807–1868).
Contents
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford and 8th earl of Balcarres (1812–1880), then purchased the remainder in 1868 for Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan. In 1895, Alexander's son and successor James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Balcarres (1847–1913) personally selected and arranged the specimens, then hired Fazakerley of Liverpool, then owned and operated by John Fazakerley (1843–1909), to mount, bevel mat, and bind them in six royal folios volumes. He then presented them as a gift that same year to the Wigan Free Public Library.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Hand(s)
Title pages written in in a bold black and red gothic hand.
Binding
Mounted, bevel-matted, and bound in six uniform royal folio volumes by Fazakerley of Liverpool, then owned and operated by John Fazakerley (1843–1909), for James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Predominantly alizarin 'British'-patterned marbled endleaves, overprinted gilt and black veins added to the beginnings and ends, with all folios aattached to custom-made compensation guards, then oversewn on six recessed cords, laced into pasteboards. Edges ploughed then heads edge-gilt, with single-core decorative endbands in red, blue, and white threads over split cane cores at head and tail. Half bound in claret coloured, full naturally grained, goatskin leather, hollow-backed, with six false bands, and pebble-grained marroon starch-filled bookcloth sides.
Spine panels paletted in thick blind and thin single fillets by the bands, with double fillets on the bands, and titled:
‘SPECIMENS
OF
ORIENTAL
PENMANSHIP’.
Boards tooled with single blind and gold fillets by the cloth. Signed by the firm ‘FAZAKERLEY BINDER LIVERPOOL’ in gold on the left board interiors, lower-right dentelles.
History
Originally collected by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867. Ultimately appointed Commissioner of Delhi in 1862, he acquired nearly 1,200 oriental manuscripts, from which the British Museum purchased 352 from his widow, Charlotte Logie Hamilton (1817–1893), now mostly held in the British Library.
Provenance and Acquisition
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), purchased the remainder in 1868 for Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
Inherited by James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913) who personally selected, arranged, and hired Fazakerley of Liverpool to bind the set. He then presented them as a gift that same year to the Wigan Free Public Library in 1895.
Transferred to the Archives: Wigan & Leigh in 2023.
Acc. 2023/72 Vol. I
Volume I contains eighteen calligraphy specimens, Nos. 1-18.
Physical Description
Binding
539 × 405 × 72 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In good, stable condition, with slight abrasion to the exteriors and board edges and corners bumped.
1
Contents
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
Landscape format, written in 1 column in 10 lines. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in shikastah ta‘līq script.
History
2
Contents
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
Landscape format, written in 2 columns, the top with 21 oblique lines, the bottom nine horizontal. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in shikastah ta‘līq script by al-Marrī Ḥusayn.
History
3
Contents
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
Portrait format, written in 1 column in 14 lines. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in hasty black shikastah ta‘līq script.
4
Contents
محمد ولی خان
While several men of this name appear in historical sources, none comport with this date, hence he remains unidentified.
Physical Description
Condition
Hand(s)
Written in bold white naskh script.
History
5
Contents
حیدر قلی
Probably not the same man as Safavid scribe named Muḥammad ‘Ali bin Ḥaydar Qulī, who completed Bodleian Library MS. Elliott 63 in Shaʻbān 985 AH (October-November 1577 CE).
Physical Description
Condition
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Acc. 2023/72 Vol. II
Volume II contains eighteen calligraphy specimens, Nos. 19-36.
Physical Description
Binding
539 × 408 × 73 mm.
Handle binding with condition. In fair but stable condition, with extensive staining, abrasion, and salts on the exterior, probably due to prolonged exposure to moisture.
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Acc. 2023/72 Vol. III
Volume III contains eighteen calligraphy specimens, Nos. 37-54.
Physical Description
Binding
Handle binding with condition. In good, stable condition, with slight abrasion to the exteriors and board edges.
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Acc. 2023/72 Vol. IV
Volume IV contains eighteen calligraphy specimens, Nos. 55-72.
Physical Description
Binding
542 × 410 × 72 mm.
Handle binding with condition. In good, stable condition, with slight abrasion on the exteriors and board edges.
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Acc. 2023/72 Vol. V
Volume V contains eighteen calligraphy specimens, Nos. 73-90.
Physical Description
Binding
540 × 408 × 71 mm.
Handle binding with condition. In good, stable condition, with slight abrasion to the exteriors and board edges.
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Acc. 2023/72 Vol. VI
Volume VI, the final one of the set, contains seventeen calligraphy specimens, Nos. 91-107.
Physical Description
Binding
Handle binding with condition. In good, stable condition, with slight abrasion to the exteriors and board edges.
91
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Additional Information
Record Sources
Bibliographical description by Jake Benson in 2025 with reference to the volumes in hand.
Availability
To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit . For any other enquiries please email archives@wigan.gov.uk
Custodial History
Volumes III and VI exhibited in The Nature of Gothic: : Reflecting the Natural World in Historic and Contemporary Artistic Practice at the Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, Cambridge in 2025.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
Subjects
- Arabic letters
- British--India--History
- Calligraphy
- Calligraphy, Arabic
- Calligraphy, Islamic
- Calligraphy, Persian
- Delhi (India)--History
- Devotional poetry
- Devotional poetry, Arabic
- Devotional poetry, Urdu
- India--History
- India--History--18th century
- India--History--19th century
- Laudatory poetry
- Laudatory poetry, Arabic
- Laudatory poetry, Persian
- Persian poetry--747-1500; Persian poetry--1500-1796
- Religious poetry, Persian
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