Persian MS 962 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Two other copies survive, all completed on this same date, both in the British Library, Or. 2038 (see Rieu) and Delhi Persian 742 (see Storey et al); the latter also reportedly bears the author's seal impression as in this volume.
Physical Description
Layout
Written in 1 to 2 columns with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders by Irshād ‘Alī Jhajjharī.
Decoration
Illustration: Folio 23a features a delicately-rendered scene of the ruins of the Quṭb Minār by an unidentified artist.
Inscriptions: The second right flyleaf a side (ff iia) bears a note by the author presenting the volume to his friend John Panton Gubbins on 1 April 1847:
‘نسخه مرا را که اضعف العباد کریم خان متوطم قصبه جهجیر که بعد سفر و سیاحت ولایت
انگلستان و لندن بمقام شاهجاهانآباد حسب الارسال جناب مستطاب معلی القاب لارد هنری هاردینگ صاحب گورنر جنرل بهادر ناظم اعظم ممالک کشور هند مزینت مدهیکی از آن
بحضور فیض معمور حساب نواب والاه خطاب مرون(؟) امدح گزارانیده نسخه برابر
هدیت و تحفه سحور پاک کار بحضور جناب صاحب نامدار جان پنت گبنس
را صمیمه(؟) گذرانید و بمقبولی حسن افتخار صاحب کردانید(؟) دویم ماه ابریل سنه ۱۸۴۷ ع.’
Bookplate: The right doublure ‘John Panton Gubbins’
Binding
Probably bound in Delhi for the author.
Sewn on a single support, edges trimmed, and chevron endbands twined at head and tail. Covered in full maroon-coloured goatskin leather over pasteboards, with a defined exterior join, but neither squares nor a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Interior doublures lined with the same leather, with their excess widths adhered to the flyleaves as hinges connecting the cover to the textblock.
Board exteriors extensively decorated with blocked gilt onlays for the central mandorlas, cartouches, and detached pendants bearing floral scrollwork, with hand-tooled triple insular dots at the interstices, floral scrollwork cornerpieces and quatrefoils within half-circles embellish the margins, surrounded by a wide floral scrollwork rule, with insular dot rules on both sides. Single-line marginal ruling surrounds the central decoration, with that and the surrounding margins further embellished with hand-painted dots and trefoils.
Handle binding with caution. In poor condition with both sewing and leather spine broken, exterior onlays lifting or missing, and abrasion to the edges, corners.
Both the second right flyleaf a side (ff iia) and accompanying letter bear the same octagonal black seal impression, intaglio-carved in two nasta‘līq script lines against a floral ground, double-ruled, with the name of the author, here given as Karīm Khān Sarāban sākin-i Jhajjhar, 1255:
‘کریم خان سرابن ساکن جهجر ۱۲۵۵’
Accompanying Material
A folded letter from the author addressed to Gubbins, also dated 1 April 1847, accompanies the volume, which also bears the same seal as on the second right flyleaf a side (ff iia).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Presented by the author to John Panton Gubbins (1806–1879) on 1 April 1847. Awarded a prize for Persian at East India College at Haileybury in 1823, Gubbins served in the Bengal Civil Service from 1824 to 1852, during which time he co-authored A glossary, Bengálí and English, and ultimately served as Session Judge for seven years in Delhi. Upon his retirement, prominent citizens presented him with an ornate Persian prose farewell address and silver penbox (translated by S. A. A. Rizvi in subsequently sold at Christie's, London, 10 Oct. 2013, lot 222).
Probably brought by Gubbins to Britain, then possibly sold by him before his death to London bookseller London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899), whom in circa 1872–1874 sold another Gulistān-i Sa‘dī manuscript that he formerly owned (now Arthur J. Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Persian 62).
Subsequently acquired by Dr Moses Tyson (1897–1969), Keeper of Western Manuscripts at The John Rylands Library, from an unidentified source.
Purchased by the John Rylands Library from Tyson in July, 1933.
Record Sources
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2023, with reference to the volume, an unpublished handlist, accession registers, and a Persian description of the volume published by Tawfiq Subhani in 1993.
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 John Rylands Research Institute and Library
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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