Persian MS 965 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: An unillustrated copy of the Fatḥ′nāmah-ʼi Ṣāḥibqirānī (Book of Conquest by the Lord of the Conjunction), composed by historian Sharaf al-Dīn ʻAlī Yazdī (d. 1454) as an abridgement that omits passages of poetry from his longer work, Ẓafarnāmah (Book of Victory). He completed both works on behalf of the Timurid prince and bibliophile, Ibrāhīm Sulṭān b. Shāh Rukh (1394–1435) in order to chronicle the life and exploits of his patron's grandfather, Central Asian ruler Tīmūr (b. 1336, r. 1370–1405), founder of the Timurid dynasty (1370–1507), and his son and successor Shāh Rukh Mīrzā (b. 1337, r. 1405–1447). The author derived the first part of his work from an earlier history completed by Baghdad resident Niẓām al-Dīn Shāmī (fl. ca. 1392–1402) in an ornate style at Timur's request in 1402. A scribe named ‘Abd Allāh b. Ādam completed this volume on 26 Shavvāl 906 AH (15 May 1501 [Julian/25 May 1501 CE]), hence the earliest of nine copies of this work held in the Rylands.

Author: Sharaf al-Dīn ʻAlī Yazdī, d. 1454;
شرف الدين على يزدى

Author and Bibliographic antecedent: Niẓām al-Dīn Shāmī (fl. ca. 1392–1402);
نظام الدین شامی

Scribe: ‘Abd Allāh b. Ādam;
عبد الله بن آدم

Title: Fatḥ′nāmah-ʼi Ṣāḥibqirānī

Title: فتح‌نامه صاحبقرانی

Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): اللهم کـما انـعمت نعمة الشروع فتممها بتوفیق التتمیم حمد و سـپاس بـی‌قیاس که از فتح‌نامه ...

Explicit: برگ ۴۴۲ر (folio 442a): بعدلش جهان یکسر آراسته‌ ز کیهان رسوم بـدی کـاسته

Colophon: برگ ۴۴۲ر (folio 442a):تمام شد کتابت این فتح‌نامه...و التقصیر‌ عبد‌ الله‌ بن آدم تاریخ کتابت ۲۶ شوال سنه ۹۰۶ هجری .

Colophon: Completed by ‘Abd Allāh b. Ādam on 26 Shavvāl 906 AH (15 May 1501 [Julian/25 May 1501 CE]).

Language(s): Persian

For other copies of the Yazdī's Ẓafarnāmah held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 166, 167, 226, 372, 828, 829, 830, and 899.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivoury-coloured paper probably handmade in the Timurid Empire.

Dimensions (leaf):

Dimensions (written):

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Manuscript in very poor condition. Folio 126 protrudes at the fore-edge. Extensively remargined oversen

Layout

Written in 1 column with 21 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black naskh with red subheaders by ‘Abd Allāh b. Ādam.

Binding

Rebbound in Britain. Stripe blue and white cloth headbands.

× × mm.

History

Origin: Completed by ‘Abd Allāh b. Adam, possibly in Timurid Empire; 26 Shavvāl 906 AH (15 May 1501 [Julian, 25 May 1501 CE]))

Provenance and Acquisition

The circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, but one ‘L. G. Lawrie of Mobberley, Cheshire’, possibly Leslie Gordon Lawrie (1891–1959), subsequently acquired it. A graduate of Manchester College of Technology (1910) Lawrie specialized in textile chemistry, and worked for British Dyestuffs Corporation, (later Imperial Chemical Industries. Ltd.), which operated in Salford.

Given by Lawrie to the John Rylands Library December, 1953.

Record Sources

Bibliographical description derived from an unpublished hand-list of additional Persian manuscripts.

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

M. Dirāyatī and M. Dirāyatī, Fihristgān: Nuskhahʹhā-yi Khaṭṭī-i Īrān (FANKHĀ) [Manuscript Union Catalogue of Iran], Vol. 22 (Tehran: Sāzmān-i Asnād va Kitābkhānah-i Millī-i Jumhūrī-i Islāmī-i Īrān, 1392 SH [2013–14 CE]), pp. 251– [Mar‘ashi Library no. 1/12549, &c.].

H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India, As Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol. III (London: Trübner & Co., 1867), pp. 478–522, no. XIX.

H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. 1 (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), col. 78, no. 173 [BL IO Islamic 984].

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 441, no. 681 (i).

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p. 173 [British Library Add. 25024].

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. 87, 89–90, nos. 153, 160 [Bodleian Ouseley 3, 4, &c.]

C. A. Storey Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. I, Sect II, Fasc. 2 (London: Luzac & Co., 1936), pp. 278–279, 284–287 (nos. 354 and 356 (1 and Abridgments 1).

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. 178, no. 24.

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

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