Persian MS 980 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 20, Persian MS 23, 70, 127, and 963, as well as the text within the Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) in Persian MS 949, and the Kullīyāt (Complete Works), Persian MS 601.
Physical Description
Layout
Written in 2 columns with 20 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.
Decoration
Five small miniatures which exemplify the Safavid style in the mid-sixteenth century. While the miniatures may have been executed at Mashhad, B.W. Robinson argues that the miniatures were completed slightly too early to have received the patronage of Prince Ibrahim Mirza.
Illuminated double title-page on folios 1b and 2a in a style characteristic of the Herat and Tabriz styles of Khurasan manuscripts of the later sixteenth century. Section headings are written in gold on a background of scrollwork. Spaces in the text and around the colophon are similarly adorned.
Binding
Contemporary binding with flap, rebacked and repaired. It would appear that in the course of the repair the covers and flap were reversed to make the doublures the present outer surface and vice versa. The original outer surfaces (now doublures) are of leather, painted black and covered with very finely painted gold medallions, pendants, corner pieces and arabesque scrolls, which have then been varnished over. Small parts of this surface are missing. The original doublures (now outer surfaces) are of red leather, painted with gold floral scrolls and decorated with medallions, pendants and corner pieces of cut-out work on backgrounds of green and blue. This is framed with strips and squares of green and yellow silk let into the leather and covered with cut-out work of black and brown, some of which are missing.
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 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).
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.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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