MS. Ouseley 159 (Bodleian Library, Oxford University)

The descriptive English title appears in a later hand on folio 1a as "Journal of M. Salih", i.e. Mīrzā Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Shīrāzī میرزا محمد صالح شیرازی, son of Ḥājī Bāqir Khān Kāzarūnī حاجی باقر خان کازرونی, an associate of Sir Gore Ouseley. Note that this is different to the better known Safarnāmah of the same author, which details his travels from Tabriz through the Caucasus and Western Russia to Europe.

References

The title is given as Adighebja Alif-Beija or The Circassian Alphabet on folio 43a and اىدىگہ‍ىبذہ اىلىف بېیڞېی in the colophon on folio 52a. The second word of the title (Alifbeija / اىلىف بېیڞېی) does not correspond to any known word in Kabardian for the Arabic script (alifba). The author (and perhaps also scribe) is given as "Shora Gha Beg Mirza A Kabardian Chief" on folio 43a in a later hand. The name is difficult to trace in that form, but this alphabet looks very similar (if not identical) to that proposed by Shora Bekmurzovich Nogmov (roughly 1801-1844), so the "Gha" element is likely an error, perhaps some mutation of the title "Agha" or a misinterpretation of the patronymic formula element "и къуэ".

References

References