Persian MS 970 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For two other copies of this manuscript held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 158 and 820, the latter dated 3 Rajab 1198 AH (23 May 1784 CE).
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 12 lines per page. Ruled with a miṣṭārah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in black nasta‘līq script with shikastah ligatures and red markings to highlight passages, indicate breaks, and full stops.
Inscriptions: The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears a French note, unsigned, but in the hand of former owner Jean-Baptiste Joseph Gentil, with the number ‘Nº 32 1 Volume’ written in pencil underneath, which pertains to his 1789 sale catalogue.
Folio 1a bears a translated and descriptive title in Gentil's hand.
Bookplates: The left flyleaf b side (f. iib): bears Owens College bearing ‘Prog. Nº 1619’ and a circular red label at top-left with the same number.
Binding
Binding missing. Only zig-zag cut paper strips over maroon goatskin leather hinges remain from where they originally connected the text-block to the cover. Sewn at two stations, unsupported, with edges trimmed and remnants of endbands at head and tail.
Handle manuscript with caution. In poor condition with binding missing and spine leather deteriorated. Boxed.
The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears a rectangular black seal impression, intaglio-carved in three stacked nasta‘līq lines, double-ruled, read from top, the bottom to the middle, with the name of Jean-Baptiste Joseph Gentil dated 1182 AH (1768–69 CE):
‘مدیر الملک رفیع الدوله جنتیل بهادر ناظم جنگ ۱۱۸۲’
18 × 22 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Gentil fought the British East India Company in Pondicherry, Bengal, and Awadh, the latter fighting on behlaf of Shuja‘ al-Dawlah. After he retired and returned to France in 1778, he offered the volume up for sale, together with other manuscripts, under the guise of the late ‘Chevalier de Caunun, Ancien Gouverneur de Chandernagor’ on 9 July 1789.
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, John Haddon Hindley subsequently acquired it and offered it for sale through the London firm of Leigh and Sotheby on 10 Mar. 1793, but did not sell it, for he offered it again through the same firm on 6 Jun. 1805, where an unidentified individual named ‘Mr. Hall’ purchased it for £1 3 shillings.
Subsequently acquired by Manchester bookseller William Ford (1771–1832)), who offered it for sale in 1810, 1814, and 1816–1817.
Thereafter acquired Manchester merchant and scholar Samuel Robinson (1794–1884) of Wilmslow, the author of Persian Poetry for English Readers (1883), who donated it to Owens College (the original institution that evolved into the of The University of Manchester today).
Transferred to the John Rylands Library in circa 1975 after it merged with the University of Manchester.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description derived from Siavash Rafiee-Rad, 'Persian Manuscripts in Samuel Robinson’s Collection in The John Rylands Library' (2017).
Record created, manuscript description enhanced, and provenance corrected by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand, and in consultation with Prof Charles Melville, University of Cambridge, regarding the Hindley then Ford's acquisition of Gentil's manuscripts.
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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