Gaster MS Misc 1519 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
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Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Summary of Contents: This incomplete, illustrated Persian translation of the Kitāb Suwar Kawākib al-Thābitah (Book of Forms of the Fixed Stars), composed in Arabic by ‘Abd al-Raḥman al-Ṣūfī (ca. 903–986). It features thirty-two depictions of the zodiac and other constellations, together with unidentified tables, and possibly dates to the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. The Persian headings derive from Naṣr al-Dīn al-Tūsī's redaction, while the tables appear to comport with those of Ūlūgh Bayg.Author and Translator: AnonymousAuthor and Bibliographic antecedent: al-Ṣūfī, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻUmar, ca. 903–986 أبو الحسين الصوفي، عبد الرحمن بن عمر، 291-376 هـTitle: Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-ThābitahIncipit: (basmala) صقحهی ۱ (page 1): کواکب ذات الکرس: آن کواکب که بر سر است...Explicit: صقحهی ۳۹ (page 39): باقی کواکب و او بجنوب مایلتر است.Colophon: Colophon missing.Language(s): PersianPhysical Description
Form: codexExtent: 59 pages [30 folios], 2 endleaves (ff. i + 30 + i)Dimensions (leaf): × mm.Dimensions (written): × mm.Foliation: Modern pencilled Arabic numeral pagination at centre-top throughout.Collation
Undetermined. No catchwords.Condition
Handle with caution. In fair but stable condition.Layout
Written in 1 column with varying numbers of lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Primarily written in clear black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures, with various abbreviations and sīyāq numerals, some written with red.
Additions:
Inscriptions:
Folio 1a:Binding
Unsupported resewing, covered in a semi-limp binding with the edges hemmed in goaskin leather over thin pasteboards, and faced with modern European machine-made pink-violet paper, and interior pastedowns of the same.
× mm.
Handle with caution. In fair but stable condition.
History
Origin: Possibly completed in Greater Iran; undated but possibly 18th or 19th century CE.Provenance and Acquisition
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Europe remain unclear, a notation in on folio 1a indicates that someone from France acquired it.
Subsequently obtained by collector and folklorist Moses Gaster (1856–1939) from an unidentified source.
Acquired in 1954 by the John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description derived from the Handlist of the Gaster Manuscripts, published in 1995.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2023, derived from a Persian description of the volume published by Tawfiq Subhani in 1993, and in consultation with Dr. Hamid Bohloul and Dr Sonja Brentjes regarding identification of the manuscript. .
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.
Bibliography
M. Gaster, M. Ettinghausen, and V. I Gaster. Handlist of the Gaster Manuscripts: Held Mostly in the British Library (Formerly British Museum) London and in the John Rylands Library Manchester (London: Hebrew Section, Oriental and India Office Collections the British Library 1995.Tawfīq Subḥānī, 'Kitāb'hā-yi khaṭṭī-i Fārsī fihrist nashudah dar Kitābkhānah Jān Rāylāndz, Manchistir' Majallah-'i Dānishkadah-i Adabiyāt va ‘Ulūm-i Insānī n.s., Vol. 1, Nos. 2-3 (1372 SH [1993 CE]): p. 179, no. 28.Funding of Cataloguing
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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