Persian MS 945 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: An unidentified scribed finished this nearly complete Dīvān of Ḥāfiẓ (ca. 1315–1390) in Herat in 937 AH (1530 CE). This volume contains most of the ghazal lyric poems but omits quatrains typically found in other copies. It also features a lavishly illuminated opening folios, headers, and margins, as well as four illustrations.

Author: Ḥāfiẓ, 14th cent.;
Ḥāfiẓ Shīrāzī;
Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī;
حافظ شيرازى

Title: Dīvān

Title: دیوان

Colophon:

Language(s): Persian

One of ten copies of this work held in the Rylands, for others see Persian MS 14, 34, 50, 262, 263, 288, 563, 842, 946, and 1001–1003 (3 vols).

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivoury-coloured paper probably handmade in the Safavid Empire with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines. Subsequently remargined when rebound in the 19th century.

Extent: 214 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. ii + 214 + i).

Dimensions (leaf): 137 × 86 mm.

Dimensions (written): 86 × 41 mm.

Layout

written in 1 and 2 columns with 12 lines per page

Hand(s)

Copied in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Decoration

The volume bears sumptuously illuminated opening pages, subheaders, and margins. Four illustrations attributed by B. W. Robinson to Shiraz in the 1580s.

Illustrations:

Folio
Folio
Folio
Folio

166b–167a. battle with cleaving head.

Illumination:

Ruling: Margins ruled in wide gold outlined in

Binding

19th c lacquer binding from Iran. two sewing stations trimmed, chevron endbands. pink-red and green chevron endbands twined at head and tail.. gold-spattered over marbled papers flyleaves, painted doublures.

× × mm.

History

Origin:

Provenance and Acquisition

The circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, but subsequently acquired by Dr David Lloyd Roberts (1835-1920) of Manchester.

After Robert's death, bequeathed to the John Rylands Library in 1921.

Record Sources

Bibliographical description derived from B. W. Robinson, Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library: A Descriptive Catalogue, published in 1980, and a 1993 essay published by Tawfiq Subhani.

Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2023, with reference to the volume.

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

C. H. de Fouchécour, 'Ḥāfiẓ', Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, (2018)

Ḥāfiẓ, Persian Lyrics or Scattered Poems from the Diwan-i-Hafiz: With Paraphrases in Verse and Prose a Catalogue of the Gazels As Arranged in a Manuscript of the Works of Hafiz in the Chetham Library at Manchester and Other Illustrations. Translated by John Haddon Hindley London: Printed at the Oriental Press by Wilson & Co, 1800.

Ḥāfiẓ, The Dīvān Translated by Col. W. H. Clarke, 2 Vols. Calcutta: Government of India Central Printing Office, 1891.

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 168, no. 561.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), pp. 627–632 [British Library Add. 7759, &c].

B. W. Robinson, Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library: A Descriptive Catalogue (London: Sotheby Parke Bennet, 1980), pp. 221–223, nos. 652–655.

E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), cols. 578–592, nos. 815–853 [Bodleian MS Ouseley 148, &c.].

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. 165, no. 4.

E. Yarsharter et al, 'Hafez', Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. XI, Fasc. 5 (2002), pp. 461–507.

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

Subjects

Persian poetry--747-1500

Comments

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