Persian MS 972 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: An isolated copy of the first part of the first volume of the Ḥabīb al-Siyar (Beloved of Biographies), originally completed by the author Ghiyās̲ al-Dīn ibn Humām al-Dīn (ca. 1475–1535) known as Khvāndamīr (1487–1524 CE) in 937 AH (1530–31 CE). He presents a general history spanning the pre-Islamic period until the reign of Shāh Ismāʿīl I, which dedicates to then-governor of Herat, Karīm al-Din Khvājah Ḥabīb-Allāh Sāvajī (fl. early-mid 16th c.), hence the title. the entire work consists of a preface, an introduction, three volumes—each of which contains four sections appended with lists of names of prominent figures associated with each period—followed by an epilogue. This volume covers This volume opens with the histories of the Persian kings after the creation of Adam up to the prophet of Islam.

Author: Khvānd Mīr, Ghiyās̲ al-Dīn ibn Humām al-Dīn, ca. 1475-1535?
خواند مير، غياث الدين بن همام الدين
Khvāndamīr
خواندمير

Title: Ḥabīb al-Siyar

Title: حبيب السير

Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۲پ (folio 2b): بعد از تقدیم حمد و ثنای پادشاهی که پادشاهانرا پادشاهی...

Explicit: برگ ۳۷۳ر (folio 373a): ...اختتام شد سخن مزید عایت تمام.

Colophon: No colophon, but completed with Persian MS 973 in 22 JUmādà II 1055 AH (16 Aug. 1645 CE)

Language(s): Persian

For other copies of this work held in the Rylands see, Persian MS 165, 398 and 399 (3 volumes bound in two), 809, 810, 811 (3 vols), 815, 816, (3 vols. bound in 2), and 971, as well as 973, and 974 (2 vols). For a full analysis, see Bockholt. For English translations of select extracts by Henry Lushington, see Elliot and Dowson.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of heavy-weight, cross-grained, heavily flocked, buff-coloured, sized and polished paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~5 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.

Extent: 373 folios (ff. 373).

Dimensions (leaf): 260 × 160 mm.

Dimensions (written): × mm.

Foliation: Unfoliated.

Collation

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

Condition

In good condition.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Additions:
Inscriptions:

Folio 2a bears a partially trimmed note by a former owner:
‘الملک القابص الباب هو’

Binding

Quarter bound in brown goatskin leather with 'antique spot' patterned marbled paper sides.

27 × 165 × mm.

Binding in good condition.

History

Origin: Probably completed by an unidentified scribe in Greater Iran; 22 Jumādá II 1055 AH (16 Aug. 1645 CE). A 22 Jamādà II 1055 AH (16 Aug. 1645 CE) during the reign of Safavid ruler ShāhʿAbbās II, as per the colophon of the associated volume Persian MS 973.

Provenance and Acquisition

Unknown. Probably transferred from the University of Manchester Library to the John Rylands Library after the institutions merged in 1972.

Record Sources

Bibliographical description derived from Siavash Rafiee-Rad, 'Persian Manuscripts in Samuel Robinson’s Collection in The John Rylands Library' (2017).

Record created and manuscript description amended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume 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

S. Bashir, 'A Perso-Islamic Universal Chronicle in Its Historical Context: Ghiyas al-Din Khwandamir's Habib al-siyar', in History and Religion: Narrating a Religious Past, edited by J. Rüpke, S. Rau, and B. C. Otto (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015) pp. 207–223.

P. Bockholt, Ein Bestseller der islamischen Vormoderne Zur Verbreitung von Ḫvāndamīrs Ḥabīb as-siyar von Anatolien bis auf den indischen Subkontinent (Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2022), pp. 127, tbl. 5, no. 130; Appendix, pp. 252–255.

P. Bockholt, ‘Khvāndamīr’, Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE (2020).

H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India, As Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol. IV (London: Trübner & Co., 1872), pp. 154–212, no. XXVI (with translated excerpts contributed by Henry Lushington.

H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. I (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), cols. 25–30, nos. 79–99 [British Library IO Islamic 1788, &c.].

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), pp. 261–262, no. 923(ii).

S. Rafiee-Rad, 'Persian Manuscripts in Samuel Robinson’s Collection in The John Rylands Library', Manuscripta: A Journal for Manuscript Research, Vol. 61, No. 2 (2017): pp. 253–256 [Rylands Persian MS 971–974].

F. Richard, 'Jean-Baptiste Gentil, collectionneur de manuscrits persans', Dix-Huitième Siècle, No. 28 (1996): pp. 91–110.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), pp. 98–102 [British Library Add. 23508, &c.].

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. 33–38, nos. 70–82 [Bodleian MS. Elliot 142].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 1 Pt. 1 (London: Luzac & Co., 1927), pp. 101–102, 104–109, no. 125 (3).

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

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