Persian MS 1000 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Summary of Contents: The second of two volumes of an incomplete Shāhnāmah (Book of Kings), by Abū al-Qāsim Manṣūr Firdawsī (fl. ca. 940–1020), together with Persian MS 999. It opens with a shortened redaction of the Baysunghur preface, followed by the poem proper, of which Abū Manṣūr Daqīqī (d. ca. 980) commenced a thousand lines, but after his death, Firdawsī completed the work shortly before the year 1000 CE. He drew upon a number of pre-Islamic Pahlavi middle Persian sources, principally the now-lost Khwadāynāmag (Book of Lords) that recounted the ancient rulers of Persian until the Sassanian period, as well as Iranian mythology and folklore.
Title: Preface to the Shāhnāmah
Title: شاهنامه
Language(s): Persian
6b
Title: Baysunghur Introduction
Physical Description
Form: codex
History
Origin:
Provenance and Acquisition
The circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear.
Previously held in the Chetham Library, Manchester.
Purchased in 1981 by the John Rylands Library, together with other oriental manuscripts for £2000.
Record Sources
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2023 .
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
A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 21, no. 2537 [Bodleian Ms. Pers. D. 44].
François du Blois, Persian Literature a Bio-Bibliographical Survey : Poetry of the Pre-Mongol Period, Vol. V, 2nd ed. (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), pp. 94–96 no. 52 [Daqīqī]; 110–138, no. 58 [Firdawsī].
H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, Vol. I (Oxford: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), col. 546, no. 860 [British Library IO Islamic 2118].
G. P. Greswell, Bibliotheca Chethamensis: Sive Bibliothecæ Publicæ Mancuniensis Ab Humfredo Chetham Armigero Fundatæ Catalogus, Vol. III (Mancunii: Henricus Smith, 1826), p. 163, no. 7983
Turner Macan, The Shah Nameh, An Heroic Poem; with an Introduction and Life of the Author &c. &c. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1829.
D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 147, no. 472.
S. Rafiee-Rad, 'Persian Manuscripts in Samuel Robinson’s Collection in The John Rylands Library', Manuscripta: A Journal for Manuscript Research, Vol. 61, No. 2 (2017): pp. 262–266, pl. 6 [Rylands Persian MS 977–978].
C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), p. 533 [British Library Add. 21103, &c.].
E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Vol I. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 450, no. 493 [Bodleian Elliot 325, &c.]
Funding of Cataloguing
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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