Persian MS 982 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For two other later copies of this work, see Rylands Persian MS 201 and 495.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Primarily written in 1 column with 19 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.
Inscriptions: Folios 140a to 145b bears quotations from different poets in various hands, including Jāmī (140b), ‘Abd Allāh Anṣārī (141a), various quintains (mukhammis) and lyrical poems (ghazal). Bookplates: The final right flyleaf b side (f. ivb): ‘Bequeathed by Samuel Robinson, of Wilmslow, 1884’, with ‘Class: 284; Section: 100; Prog. Nº 39155’.
Left pastedown: ‘Samuel Robinson, Blackbrook Cottage, Wilmslow’.
Binding
Evidently rebound in Europe for an unidentified prior owner, who also rebound Persian MS 983 and Persian MS 984.
Resewn on five recessed cords, with added made endpapers of coarse green wove paper lined with thin wove. Laced into pasteboards, edges trimmed and spattered brown, with decorative front-bead endbands sewn in yellow and green silk threads at head and tail. Covered in full diced Russia leather, tight backed, with false raised bands.
Board exteriors decorated with a blind central panel insular dots and large lily-like cornerpieces. Board margins ruled with a double fillet lines in gold, with a blind decorative roll featuring alternating leaves and floral blossoms. Interior board margins also bear double fillet lines in gold. Remaining spine fragments decorated on the false bands with single fillet lines palletted on either side, blind ribbon and narrow decorative lines upon the bands, and gold quatrefoils in the centres of the panels surrounded by blind trefoils.
237 × 155 × 26 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In poor condition, with the left board detached, the front board breaking, and delaminating, friable spine remnants. Boxed.
1: Folios 1a and 139b bear five impressions from the same seal in three stacked nasta‘līq lines, double ruled with the name of ‘‘Abd al-Raḥmān’ dated 1140 AH (1727–28 CE), possibly the same person as the scribe ‘Abdul Raḥmān Ṣadīqī.
15 × 20 mm.
2: The accompanying bifolium bears an illegible, faint rectangular seal impression in three stacked nasta‘līq lines, double ruled.
10 × 12 mm.
Accompanying Material
A detached bifolium in an unrelated hand and unidentified text accompanies the volume.
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
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
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