Persian MS 616 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Marshall omits this work from his list of the author's Persian works. Few standalone copies of this work appear to survive.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 13 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.
Inscriptions: Folio 1a: bears the title and author in Persian:
‘نسخه مطد المدام فی شدح قصیره طپد الکلام تصنیف سید انشاٰ الله خان متخلص انشا ابن حکیم مید ماشاء الله حسینی نجفی جعفری نبشته [نوشته] سنه ۱۲۳۳ هجری ’
Folio 2a: bears a short variant title and author's name in Persian:
شرح قصیده بی نقاط تصنیف انشأ الله خان
Bookplates: Left doublure, ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelf mark ‘1/H’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 533’ with the name and number crossed out, and ‘Persian’ and ‘616’ written aside.
Binding
Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Dehli for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
Repaired, mould-made laid endpapers added to the beginning and end, with 11 laid lines per 20 mm and 26 mm between chain lines. Resewn at three stations, unsupported. Edges trimmed and chevron endbands of white and black 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 British made shell-patterned marbled papers, with their excess widths put down as hinges to connect the cover to the textblock.
Spine bore a label, now missing. Board margins and spine dyed black, outlined with double ruled yellow lines, with interior single-ruled margins of the same.
224 × 163 × 35 mm.
Binding in fair but stable condition, with boards yawning at the fore-edge, head and tail caps cracked, minor scuffing to the exterior, and loose sewing.
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
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
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