Persian MS 991 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
S. H. Qasemi documents 244 manuscripts and printed editions of this work. C. A. Storey also notes various manuscripts and translations into English, German, French, Turkish, and Urdu. For other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 88, 199, 463, 919, and and 1017. For another glossary of terms found in this work entitled Rang-i Bahār by ‘Abd al-Bāqī, see Persian MS 477.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a hasty black shikastah hand with red subheaders.
Inscriptions: The second right flyleaf a side (f. iib) numbered ‘Nº 18’ in pencil at top, with a French description of the work underneath:
‘Roman sur les minauderies simagrées des femmes por un Secretaire de Chadjahan Nommé Enayatolla’.
Binding
Probably rebound for the Univeristy of Manchester Library in the mid-20th century, together with Persian MS 978 and 997.
Resewn, with modern, heavy-weight, ivoury-coloured, machine-made wove endpapers added at the beginning and end. Edges left untrimmed, spine lined, with one machine-made headband adhered to the head only. Covered in quarter artificially grain 'chieftain' goatskin leather with commercially printed 'shell'-patterned marbled paper sides.
Spine bears four false raised bands. Bands paletted with two parallel single fillets with trefoils at right and left, and a blind lines on either side. Titled:
‘BAHĀR-I
DĀNISH’ and
‘‘INAYAT
ALLAH’.
280 × 178 × 46 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, tightly very sewn with restricted openings to the gutter margins.
The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears a rectangular black seal impression, intaglio-carved in three stacked nasta‘līq lines, double-ruled, read from top, the bottom to the middle, with the name of Jean-Baptiste Joseph Gentil dated 1182 AH (1768–69 CE):
‘مدیر الملک رفیع الدوله جنتیل بهادر ناظم جنگ ۱۱۸۲’
18 × 22 mm.
Accompanying Material
- A letter hinged between the second right folio b side (iib) to 1a bears a folded letter dated 30 June 1918 written by University of Manchester lecturer of Semitic languages Maurice A Canney to the Vice-Chancellor when he returned the volume with his assesmentof it.
- A quaternion appended to the end of the volume bears a glossary of terms in the text in a hasty shikastah hand (compare with Persian MS 477) followed by Arabic prayers interspersed with Persian commentaries, written in hasty naskh and nasta‘līq respectively.
- Another singleton follows that bears random passages in yet another hasty shikastah hand that include a sleep remedy, verses, and anecdotes.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Later acquired by French military figure Jean-Baptiste Gentil (1726–1799 CE), as per his seal impression on the second right flyleaf a side (f. iia). He fought the British East India Company in Pondicherry, Bengal, and Awadh, the latter fighting on behlaf of Shuja‘ al-Dawlah.
After Gentil retired and returned to France in 1778, he offered his collection for sale under the guise of the late ‘Chevalier de Caunun, Ancien Gouverneur de Chandernagor’ on 9 July 1789.
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, John Haddon Hindley subsequently acquired it and offered it for sale through the London firm of Leigh and Sotheby on 10 Mar. 1793
.
Subsequently acquired by one ‘Mrs. Barnston’ (or possibly ‘Bainston’?) who presented it to the University of Manchester Library; however the exact date remains unclear. She may possibly be Mary Emma Barnston (1837–1918), wife of Maj. William Barnston (1832–1872), and sister in-law of Maj. Roger Barnston (1826–1857) of Crewe Hill, Farndon, Cheshire. The latter served in India and ultimately died at Kanpur of wounds received at Lucknow in 1857. Hence, he may have acquired the volume during his career. After Roger's death, his brother William inherited Crewe Hill which Emma then managed after her husband passed, it until her son came of age in 1891. Note that although Rafiee-Rad implies this volume formerly belonged to Samuel Robinson of Wilmslow, no internal nor external evidence suggests anyone other than Gentil, Hindley, and Barnston owned it.
Transferred to the John Rylands Library in circa 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).
Record created, description augmented, and provenance corrected by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand, and in consultation with Prof Charles Melville, University of Cambridge, regarding the Hindley then Ford's acquisition of Gentil's manuscripts.
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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