Persian MS 974 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: The third volume of the Ḥabīb al-Siyar (Beloved of Biographies), uniformly bound with Persian MS 973, and probably intended to compliment and complete Persian MS 272. Originally completed by 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 the period spanning the Mongol Conquest in the 13th century until the Ascent of the Timurids in the 15th century. An unidentified scribe completed this volume on 22 Jumādá II 1055 AH (16 Aug. 1645 CE).

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 ۳پ (folio 3b): یا رب به ثنای خود سخن سازم کن * در گلشن حمد نغمه پردازم کن

Explicit: برگ ۵۳۷‍‍ پ (folio 537b): بارقام اسلام ده اختتام * کتابی بقای مرا والسلام.

Colophon: (fol. 537a)Completed by an unidentified scribe on Sunday, 27 Ramaz̤ān 1030 AH (15 August 1621 CE).

Language(s): Persian

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): 295 × 170 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.

Binding

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

375 × 265 × mm.

Binding in good condition.

History

Origin: Probably completed by an unidentified scribe in Greater Iran; Sunday, 27 Ramaz̤ān 1030 AH (15 August 1621 CE).

Provenance and Acquisition

Previously owned by Jean-Baptiste Gentil (1726–1799 CE) as per his seal impressions on folios 1a. Presumably sold by Gentil before his death or by his family thereafter; however the circumstances of the volume's arrival in Britain remain unclear. Note that although Siavash Rafiee-Rad implies that Samuel Robinson of Wilmslow formerly owned this manuscript, we find no external nor internal evidence to suggest this.

Unknown. Probably transferred from the University of Manchester Library to the John Rylands Library after the institutions merged in 1974.

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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