Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 1011 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: Shāhnāmah (Book of Kings), by Abū al-Qāsim Manṣūr Firdawsī (fl. ca. 940–1020). 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. Previously held in Chetham's Library, Manchester.
Language(s): Persian
Incipit: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): ای هژده هزار عالم از شوق تو مست * سر در سر جست و جوی جان بر کف دست.
Colophon:
Language(s): Persian

For other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 8, 9, Persian MS 121, Persian MS 131, Persian MS 145, Persian MS 220, Persian MS 525, Persian MS 869, 909, 910, 932, 933, and 977–978 (2 vols.), 999 and 1000 (2 vols.).

Physical Description

Form: codex
Dimensions (leaf): × mm.
Dimensions (written): × mm.
Foliation:

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Additions:

Binding

History

Origin:

Provenance and Acquisition

Previously held in Chetham's 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

    J. Hämeen-Anttila, Khwadāynāmag: The Middle Persian Book of Kings Leiden: Brill 2018.
    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].
    F. 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. 164, no. 7987
    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 Librart 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 MS 325, &c.]

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library and the Soudavar Memorial Foundation.


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