Persian MS 983 (The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
The preface on folio 1b and commencement of the poem proper on folio 2a published by Rafiee-Rad, plates 7–8.
Physical Description
Hand(s)
Primarily written in black nasta‘līq with red subheaders by Ḥamzah ibn Umah, who possibly likely also wrote a majority of the marginal commentaries.
Inscriptions:
- Folio 1a bears an Arabic supplicatory prayer derived from prophetic traditions:
‘اللهم زین ظواهرنا بخدمتک و بواطننا بمعرفتک و قلوبنا بمحبتک و ارواحنا بمعاونتک و اسرارنا بمشاهدتک اللهم اجعل فی قلبی نورا و فی سمعی نورا و فی بصری نورا و فی مخی نورا و عن یمینی نورا و عن شمالی نورا و عن فوقی نورا و تحتی نورا برحمتک یا ارحم الراحمین’ - Folio 104b bears a Persian inscription, presumaby by a non-native, roughly translates as: ‘This book was bought from the nation of Greek at the most prosperous time of Constantinople and around Petersburg, was written in the year of 8571 [NB: probably 1758] of Gregorian calendar’, with another note beneath in English: ‘M.S. Pers.’
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
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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