Persian MS 986 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
خافظ محمد عظم
In Wickens' analysis, the poet completed the work between Shawwāl and 29 Ẕu-al-Ḥijjah 655 AH (13 Oct.–20 Dec. 1257 CE), probably on 30 Ẕū-al-Qaʿdah (21 Nov. 1257 CE). See Wickens' Encyclopædia Iranica entry and his English translation.
This chapter lacks a heading.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 3 columns with 20 lines per page, two horizontal along with a third margin at the fore-edge written at oblique angles. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with white subheaders.
Bookplates: The final right flyleaf b side (f. iib): Owens College, ‘Bequeathed by Samuel Robinson, of Wilmslow, 1884’.
Left pastedown: ‘Samuel Robinson, Blackbrook Cottage, Wilmslow’.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Inherited by Ḥaydar ‘Alī’s son and successor Tipu Sultan (b. 1751, r. 1782–1799), then very likely subsequently plundered from the palace at Seringapatam by British forces after the latter's defeat and death. Whether documentation of this volume in an inventory list of volumes selected for the East India Company by Prize Agents Charles Stewart and Samuel Ogg (BL, Mss Eur/E196) remains to be determined; however, Stewart only notes another volume of the same work in his 1809 catalogue of the collection, hence the circumstances of the volume’s arrival in Britain remain unclear (See Sims-Williams).
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
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