Persian MS 982 (The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: This eighteenth-century manuscript of Maʻdan al-Javāhir (The Mine of Jewels) by Mullā Ṭarzī contains advice and edifying stories in prose and verse. The work opens with praise of God, the Prophet, and the reigning Shāh and concludes with the author expressing regret for his choice of title and humbly asking for forgiveness in the afterlife (fol. 1037b). A scribe named ‘Abdul Raḥmān Ṣadīqī completed this volume on Rajab 1133 AH (Apr.–May 1721 CE).

Author: Mullā Ṭarzī ملا طرزی

Scribe: ‘Abdul Raḥmān Ṣadīqī

Title: Maʻdan al-Jawāhir

Title: معدن الجواهر

Title: Maʻdan al-Javāhir

Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): در صفت حمد باری تعالی و نعمت سید المرسلین...

Explicit: برگ ۱۱۰۳۷پ (folio 1037b): … تاریخ او کتاب جهانگیر پادشاه

Colophon: Completed by ‘Abdul Raḥmān Ṣadīqī in the month of Rajab 1133 AH (Apr.–May 1721 CE).

Language(s): Persian

For two other later copies of this work, see Rylands Persian MS 201 and 495.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red by ‘Abdul Raḥmān Ṣadīqī.

History

Origin: Completed by ‘Abdul Raḥmān Ṣadīqī Rajab 1133 AH (Apr.–May 1721 CE).

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.

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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

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. 271–273.

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 982 (The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester)

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