Delhi Persian 1231 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Fine copy of the mas̲navī collecting edifying tales arranged into forty ʿiqd or strings of jewels by the great Sufi, prose litterateur, and poet, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Dashtī Hiravī "Jāmī" (d. 898/1492). This copy is the author’s autograph according to a statement added at the end.

The work was largely inspired by the works of Saʿdī Shīrāzī (d. 691/1292).

Dated colophon (f. 125v): completed 94[5]/1538-9. Subscription added below by a later hand attributes the calligraphy to Jāmī himself, corrected and collated by ʿAṭāʾ Allāh at the time he was selected as the Royal Librarian ("dārūghagī-'i kitāb'khānah-'i khāṣṣah-'i sharīfah"), received at the dār al-khilāfah (Agra or Delhi?), 2 Ṣafar RY 43 (reign not specified).

Illuminated oxidised silver sarlawḥ, inscribed in oxidised white pigment "Kitāb-i Subḥat-i Mawlānā Jāmī ʿalayhi al-raḥmah", and interlinear cloud-like illuminated bands (f. 1v); polychrome ruled margins throughout, oxidised.

Fine calligraphic nastaʿlīq in two ruled columns; rubrics in red.

Annotations in calligraphic nastaʿlīq and scribal nastaʿlīq hands in margins.

This copy has been collated and checked against another authoritative copy.

Stamped and Persian foliation.

Lacks original binding.

Rebound with new covers (pale marbled boards, gilt and tooled red leather spine); dated stamp 10 Jan 1939.

Folios bound; water stains and wormholes; irregularly cropped; oxidised tissue overlay in parts.

Seals erased at end.

Erased inscriptions at beginning (f. 1r), additional annotations quoting Sufi poets Shaykh Abū Saʿīd, Rūmī, and Jāmī.