Persian MS 976 (The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 16 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red by ‘Abdul Raḥmān Ṣadīqī.
Decoration
Ruling: Margins and occasional horizontal section breaks ruled in red double lines throughout.
Marginalia: Written in pencilled Latin, many trimmed.
Inscriptions: Folio 1b bears a Latin description of the work with a basmala underneath.
Bookplates: Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 327’.
Binding
Probably rebound for former owner Samuel Robinson by the Winstanley firm in Manchester as per his stamp on the final left flyleaf a side (f. iva).
Resewn on four recessed cord supports, with stiff-leaved endpapers of ivoury adhered to red machine-made wove papers oversewn at the beginning and end. Edges trimmed, finely sprayed in dilute red earth, then decorative front-bead endbands sewn in pale gold and pink silk threads at head and tail. Case-bound, tight-backed, in half dark brown morroco-grained goatskin leather, with five false bands on the spine, and double-combed 'nonpareil' marbled paper sides.
Blind double-fillet lines paletted at head, tail, and beside the bands on the spine, and also along the paper facing the boards. Spine titled
‘NEW TESTAMENT PERSIAN’
and
‘M. S. PERS.’ in the bottom panel.
240 × 160 × 40 mm.
Binding in poor condition, with the front board fully detached, and extensive abrasion to the exterior. Boxed.
19 × 21 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by 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 1972 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).
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand.
-->Availability
The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader, see Becoming a Reader for details. Please contact uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
The John Rylands Research Institute
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