Persian MS 401 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Note that in his handlist, Michael Kerney misinterprets the date as 1111 AH or 1699 CE, which would be in ther reign of ‘Alāmgīr I.
Physical Description
Collation
Catchwords present on the lower-left corners of the b sides throughout.
Condition
Handle text with care. In fair but stable condition with insect damage at the tail edge and historical repairs throughout.
Layout
Written in 1 column, with 16 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in hasty black nast‘liq with shikastah ligatures, with subheaders, verse markers, and underscores in red, possibly in the author's hand.
Table of Contents: Folios 1b to 3b list the contents of the volume in the same hand that copied the text.
Marginalia: Occasional notes in the margins in a variant hand throughout.
Inscriptions: Folio iia: bears the title and author in Persian
‘کتاب منتخب تواریخ فی علم التاریخ مولف ابو البرکات بن محمد نصرالله’
Folio 1a:
- Top: bears two historical inventory numbers 1272 and 2770‘ نمبر ۱۲۷۲’
‘ نمبر ۲۷۷۰’
- Middle: Yā Kābīkāj and a ‘280 leaves’
- Bottom-left: Adjacent to the seal no. 3: ‘ روز دهم ربیع الاول سنه ۱۲۶۲ هجری بکتابخانه رسید ’ ‘Rūz-i dahum-i Rabī al-Awwal sana 1262 Hijrī bi-kitābkhānah rasīd’ (‘Entered in the library on 10 Rabī‘ I 1262 AH [8 Mar. 1846 CE]’).
Binding
Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
Repaired, comparatively heavy weight endpapers added to the beginning and end, then resewn at two stations, unsupported. Edges trimmed and chevron endbands of red and green threads twined at head and tail. Covered in full claret-coloured polished goatskin leather over pasteboards with squares along the edges and defined joints but without a flap (Type III binding as per Déroche), with interior doublures lined with the same leather, with their excess widths put down as hinges to connect the cover to the textblock, with strips of paper, zig-zag cut along one edge applied over top to disguise the joins.
Spine bears the title in yellow nasta‘līq. Board edges and spine dyed dark brown outline with yellow double ruled lines on either side.
335 × 136 × 39 mm.
Binding in fair but stable condition with scuffed exterior and opening to gutter margins restricted.
1: Rectangular seal impression ofthe library of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803 r. 1827–1837) dated AH 1244 (1828–29 CE), inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh:
‘ خوش است مهر کتبخانه سلیمان جاه * بهر کتاب مزین چو نقش بسم الله، ١٢۴۴’
‘Khvush ast muhur-i kitābkhānah-'i Sulaymān Jāh bahr-i kitāb; muzayyin chaw naqsh-i basmallah, 1244’ (‘The seal of the library of Sulaymān Jāh is good; it embellishes the book like the design of a basmallah, 1244’).
17 × 37 mm.
2:Rectangular seal impression, surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh, of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847) dated AH 1260 (1844–45 CE):
‘ ناسخ هر مهر شد چون شد مزین بر کتاب * خاتم امجد علی شاه زمان عالیجناب، ١٢٦٠ ’
‘Nāsukh har muhur shud chun shud muzayyin bar kitāb; khātim-i Amjad ‘Alī Shāh zamān-i ‘Ālījanāb, 1260’ (‘Every [prior] seal became cancelled since the book became embellished by the seal of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh in the era of his Sublime Majesty, 1260’).
53 × 45 mm.
3: Rectangular seal impression surmounted by the royal emblem Awadh, of Wājid ‘Alī Shāh King of Awadh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856) dated 1262 AH (1846–47 CE):
‘ خاتم واجد علی سلطان عالم بر کتاب * ثابت و پر نور بادا تا فروغ آفتاب، ١٢۶۲ ’
‘Khātim-i Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān-i ‘Ālam bar kitāb, s̄abit va pur nūr bādā tā farūgh-i āftāb, 1262’ (‘The seal of Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān of the World, upon the book shall be permanent and as bright as sunlight, 1262 AH [1847 CE]’).
41 × 26 mm.
4: Also on folio 1a a small, faint, black rectangular seal impression, intaglio carved in nasta‘līq script, stacked in two lines, single-ruled, partly legible 13 × 15 mm.
History
Possibly completed by the author Abū-al-Barakāt bin Muḥammd Naṣr Allāh on behalf of Mīr Sayyid Iltifāt in Awadh in regnal year 23 of Shāh ‘Ālam, corresponding to 7 Sha‘bān 1160 (17 Aug 1747) AH.
Provenance and Acquisition
Thereafter accessioned into the royal library of the Kings of Awadh, possibly held in the Moti Mahal Palace, then later transferred to the Qaisarbagh Palace as indicated by a dated library notation on folio 1a, and seal impressions of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837), Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), and Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856). Presumably looted during India's First War of Independence, when British soldiers ransacked the Qaisarbagh palace and library on 15 March 1858 (see Wolseley's memoir).
Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum purchased 352 from his widow, Charlotte Logie Hamilton (1817–1893), now held in the British Library.
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), purchased the remainder in 1868 for Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description and corrections by Jake Benson in 2025 with reference to the manuscript in hand.
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
Funding of Cataloguing
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
Please fill out your details.