Persian MS 976 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For another Persian translation of the Gospels held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 337.
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.
Decoration
Ruling: Margins and occasional horizontal section breaks ruled in red double lines throughout.
Marginalia: Chapters identified by pencilled Latin notes, albeit many trimmed.
Inscriptions: Folio 1a bears a Latin title of the work with an Arabic basmala underneath.
Bookplates: The final left flyleaf b side (f. vb): ‘Bequeathed by Samuel Robinson, of Wilmslow, 1884’, with ‘Class: 117; Section: 76; Prog. Nº 39155’.
Left pastedown: ‘Samuel Robinson, Blackbrook Cottage, Wilmslow’.
Binding
Probably rebound for former owner Samuel Robinson by the Winstanley firm in Manchester as per its stamp on the final left flyleaf a side (f. va).
Resewn on four recessed cord supports, with stiff-leaved endpapers of ivory 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.
Handle binding with caution. In fair condition, with extensive abrasion to the exterior joints and board edges.
19 × 21 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, an unidentified European owner acquired the volume who wrote Latin notations therein.
Subsequently obtained by Manchester merchant and scholar Samuel Robinson (1794–1884) of Wilmslow, the author of Persian Poetry for English Readers (1883), acquired it and donated it to Owens College, which later evolved into the of The University of Manchester.
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
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.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
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