Persian MS 998 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

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Persian Manuscripts

Fourteen documents and detached folios, mostly Persian, including several presented to Colonel George William Hamilton upon his appointment as Commissioner of Delhi in 1862 and several years thereafter.

Contents

Summary of Contents: This collection contains several panegyric poems and ornate prose compositions dated to the mid-19th century. Many appear to be written by acquaintances of Hamilton or his subordinates.

Physical Description

Form: sheet

14 separate items.

Binding

Condition

Handle items with caution. Many creases, leading tears, and historical repairs. All currently wrapped in a large unfolded printed section from a book on New Guinea. Boxed.

History

Origin: The documents bear various dates indicating colletion in India by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi, the period for most of these items.

Provenance and Acquisition

He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum selected 352, now held in the British Library.

Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) purchased the remainder of Hamilton's collection in 1868.

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.

Persian MS 998A

Contents

Summary of Contents: An calligraphy roundel design for a title page of a publication featuring four works on accounting, possibly sponsored by George William Hamilton.
Item 1A-1
Author: Anonymous
Title: Khulāṣat al-Ḥisāb
Incipit: در فن حساب از تصانیف بهاءالدین املی
Language(s): Persian
Item 1A-2
Author: Anonymous
Title: Intikhāb al-Ḥisāb
Incipit: مصنفه لطف الله مهندس لاهوری
Language(s): Persian
Item 1A-3
Author: Anonymous
Title: Dar ‘Ilm al-Ḥisāb
Incipit: رسخية خامهٔ ضراعت عنایت احمد خیرابادی
Language(s): Persian
Item 1A-4
Author: Anonymous
Title: Ta'līf-i Kāfī
Incipit: من مصنفات ملا قاسم کافی در علم عروض در فن
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Circular piece of thin-weight machine-made wove paper.
leafpp96 mm dia.

Persian MS 998B

Contents

Poem in praise of George William Hamilton on Nawrūz

Item 2
Author: Mawlavī Ẓuhūrī ‘Alī
Title: Dar Madḥ Janāb-i Khudāīgānī Ḥuz̤ūr-i Ṣaḥib-i Kumishunar Bahādur-i Dihlī
Colophon: ضراعت نامه مولوي ظهوری مدرس مدرسه ریواڑی بتاریخ پانزدهم ماه دسمبر سنه ۱۸۶۴ م نوشته
Colophon: Completed by Mawlavī Ẓuhūrī ‘Alī, mudarris-i madrassah-'i Rivāṭī (teacher of the Rivāṭī school), 15 December 1864.
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Thin-weight machine-made wove letter paper.
Dimensions (leaf): 306 × 196 mm.
Dimensions (written): 255 × 141 mm.

Condition

Handle with caution. In fair condition with frayed edges and horizontal creases.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 20 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders by Mawlavī Ẓuhūrī ‘Alī.

Persian MS 998C

Contents

Poem

Item 3
Author: Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥamīd ‘Alī Muz̤ṭar
Title: Poem Celebrating George William Hamilton's Appointment as Commissioner of Delhi
Title: Tārīkh-i tabdīlī-i Janāb Ṣāḥib
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Bifolium of medium-weight, cross-grained, buff-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~10 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 1 bifolium (2 folios), 1 blank.
Dimensions (leaf): 293 × 203 mm.
Dimensions (written): 272 × 157 mm.

Condition

Handle with caution. In fair condition with frayed edges and horizontal creases.

Layout

Written in 4 columns with variant lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders by Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥamīd ‘Alī Muz̤ṭar.

Persian MS 998D

Contents

Summary of Contents: An unsewn quinternion contains five qaṣīdahs (odes) in praise of Praising George William Hamilton.
Item 4
Author: Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥamīd ‘Alī Muz̤ṭar
Title: Five Qaṣīdahs (Odes) Praising George William Hamilton.
Colophon:
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Five gatherings of medium-weight, cross-grained, buff-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 5 bifolium (10 folios).
Dimensions (leaf): 298 × 210 mm.
Dimensions (written): 238 × 161 mm.

Persian MS 998E

Contents

A detached bifolium bearing an unsigned and undated Arabic prose lexicographical excerpt.

Item 5
Author:
Title: Bāb al-Alif al-Mahmuz̄ah
Incipit: آء ثمر شجرة الاشجار كما وهم الجوهري قاموس فصل الثناء...
Colophon: No colophon
Language(s): Arabic

Physical Description

Support: 
Medium-weight, cross-grained, buff-coloured paper handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~9 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 1 bifolium (2 folios).
Dimensions (leaf): 297 × 218 mm.
Dimensions (written): 238 × 156 mm.

Persian MS 998F

Contents

Summary of Contents: A poem entitled Mubārak Bād Rūz-i Kalān (May the Great Day be Blessed), in reference to Easter.
Item 6
Author:
Title:
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Medium-weight, straight-grained, buff-coloured paper handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~10 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 5 bifolium (10 folios).
Dimensions (leaf): 333 × 170 mm.
Dimensions (written): 255 × 145 mm.

Persian MS 998G

Contents

Fifty-one Rekhta couplets by Sirāj al-Shu‘arā.

Item 7
Author:
Title:
Language(s): Hindustani

Physical Description

Support: 
Thin-weight, cross-grained machine-made letter paper.
Extent: 1 leaf
Dimensions (leaf): 305 × 195 mm.
Dimensions (written): 285 × 175 mm.

Persian MS 998H

Contents

Summary of Contents: Ornate Arabic prose letter in praise of Hamilton dated February, 1863 written on blue Scottish paper, with the name of the correspondent at the bottom regrettably erased.
Item 8
Author:
Title:
Language(s): Arabic

Physical Description

Support: 
Medium-weight, straight-grained mould-made blue-tinted laid paper bearing a pasted portion at bottom bears the lower a portion of a Britannia watermark, countermarked:
‘John Miller
Extra Super
Glasgow
1860’
72 × 137 mm. .
Extent: 1 leaf
Dimensions (leaf): 477 × 210 mm.
Dimensions (written): 393 × 188 mm.

Persian MS 998I

Contents

Summary of Contents: Unsigned ornate Arabic prose in praise of Hamilton, dated 19 January 1866. Unsigned, but the hand matched Item 2, so probably by Mawlavī Ẓuhūrī ‘Alī
Item 9
Author: Mawlavī Ẓuhūrī ‘Alī
Title: Hadhihi mā ḥararnā fī al-athnā' wa al-du‘ā milād al-‘Ulamā Asīyatī ismuhu al-Jamīl wa-al-Jamāl fī dhīl hadhihi al-ḥamrah
Language(s): Arabic
Colophon: حرره نسع عشرین خلون من الجنوری سنه ۱۸٦٦

Physical Description

Support: 
Thin-weight, cross-grained machine-made letter paper with a partly-legible embossed mark of the Angoulème Mill at bottom-left.
Extent: 1 leaf
Dimensions (leaf): 311 × 201 mm.
Dimensions (written): 255 × 167 mm.
Seal(s):

A blind embossed, partly legible paper mill impression appears on the lower-left corner of the letter, bears the crest and name of the ‘Angoulème Mill’
22 × 14 mm.

Persian MS 998J

Contents

Summary of Contents: Two rekhta poems signed ‘Fidvī Rājā Lāl’ by Rā'i Rājā Lāl Jī (1838–1885), eldest son of British agent and informant Munshī Jiwān Lāl (1806–1884), who served as secretary to the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II (1775–1862, r. 1837–1857).
Item 10
Author: Rā'i Rājā Lāl Jī, 1838–1885
Title: Two Rekhta Poems
Language(s): Hindustani

The same scribe also completed Persian MS 649 for George William Hamilton .

Physical Description

Support: 
Heavy-weight, cross-grained, machine-made paper coated yellow on the upper surface.
Extent: 1 leaf
Dimensions (leaf): 228 × 126 mm.
Dimensions (written): 213 × 104 mm.

Persian MS 998K

Contents

Summary of Contents: Haft Band (Seven Strophes) of Mullā Kashī .
Item 11
Author: Kāshānī Āmulī, Ḥasan, d. ca. 1338.;
کاشانی آملی، حسن Mawlā Kāshī;
ملا كاشی
Title: Ḥaft band
Title: Tarkīb band
Title: هفت بند
Title: ترکیب بند
Title: A tarkīb-band in praise of 'Ali.
Incipit: اَلسَّلام ای سایه‌ات خورشید ربّ العالمین * آسمانِ عزّ و تمکین، آفتاب داد و دین
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Thin-weight, cross-grained machine-made letter paper with a partly-legible embossed mark of the Angoulème Mill.
Extent: Two bifolio, four folios
Dimensions (leaf): 310 × 200 mm.
Dimensions (written): 277 × 145 mm.
Seal(s):

A blind embossed, partly legible paper mill impression appears on the lower-left corner of the letter, bears the crest and name of the ‘Angoulème Mill’
22 × 14 mm.

Persian MS 998L

Contents

Summary of Contents: The first and second folios detached from a manuscript of the Kitāb al-Īmān
Item 12
Author:
Title:
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Thin-weight, cross-grained, buff-coloured paper handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~14 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 2 folios
Dimensions (leaf): 225 × 125 mm.
Dimensions (written): 180 × 162 mm.

Decoration

Headpiece: An illuminated header appears a folio 1b

Seal(s):

Folio 1a, bears a small black square seal impression intaglio-carved in two nasta‘līq lines, double-ruled, of a former owner or associate named Badr al-Dīn
‘بدر الدین خادم العلماء’
13 × 13 mm.

Persian MS 998M

Contents

Unsigned Persian poem

Item 13
Author:
Title:
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Thin-weight, cross-grained, externally sized and highly polished, cream-coloured machine-made letter paper.
Extent: 1 bifolium (2 folios).
Dimensions (leaf): 309 × 194 mm.
Dimensions (written): 155 × 176 mm.

Persian MS 998N

Contents

Summary of Contents: Undated Persian poem with an Arabic passage in praise of Hamilton by Muḥammad Anwār al-Ḥaqq of Dehli.
Item 14
Author:
Title:
Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Support: 
Medium-weight, straight-grained mould-made pale blue-tinted laid paper.
Britannia Watermark:
135 × 72 mm.
Countermark: ‘Stone & Co.

1862’
72 × 145 mm. .
Extent: 1 bifolium (two folios)
Dimensions (leaf): 329 × 199 mm.
Dimensions (written): 311 × 190 mm.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.

Preliminary description by Jan Schmidt, A Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the John Rylands University Library at Manchester, 2011.

by Jake Benson in 2024 with reference to the items 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.

Funding of Cataloguing

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

Subjects

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