Delhi Persian 1441B (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
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India Office Library
Miscellaneous works on geometry, 8 items (a-h)
Contents
Summary of Contents: Composite volume comprising miscellaneous works on geometry. Volume not dated; item a dated (28 Ramaz̤ān 1143/6 April 1731). Scribal nastaʿlīq and naskh, by multiple hands. Annotations. Partial foliation in pencil alongside earlier intermittent Persian foliation. Lacking original binding. Binding damaged (pasteboards edged with brown leather, covered with a burnt umber-coloured coarse cotton textile); labels. Folios mostly bound; cropped, stained, wormholes, later repairs. Condition poor.Language(s): Persian and Arabic
1. ff. 1v-14rLanguage(s): Persian and ArabicDelhi Persian 1441B(a), ff. 1v-14r.
Persian translation by Imām al-Dīn [Riyāz̤ī] ibn Luṭf Allāh [Muhandis Dihlavī Darbī]of an earlier Arabic compendium on Euclid, the Ashkāl al-taʾsīsby Shams al-Dīn Samarqandī.
The work was completed in 1111/1699-1700 with the intention of being presented as a gift in the majlis or gathering of the noble, Muḥammad Yār Khān.
The work comprises a muqaddimah and thirty-five diagrams.
Dated colophon (f. 14r): completed 28 Ramaz̤ān RY 13 of Emperor Muḥammad Shāh, 1143/6 April 1731.
Multiple diagrams accommodated within the main text, only the more complicated figures are placed in margins.
Nastaʿlīq tending to shikastah āmīz.
Annotations in margins.
Lacuna intervenes in the space between this and the next work.
Title: Kitāb-i handasahTitle: كتاب هندسه2. ff. 15r-16rDelhi Persian 1441B(b), ff. 15r-16r.
Excerpt from a work describing Plato’s comments on geometry attributed at the beginning of the passage to “Qāz̤ī Mīr” Ḥusayn ibn Muʿīn al-Dīn Maybudī(911/1504).
Dense Arabic annotations in margins.
Not dated at end.
Language(s): Persian and Arabic3. f. 17vDelhi Persian 1441B(c), f. 17v.
Untitled diagram showing compound square and rectangular figures linked by intersecting diagonal lines.
Not dated at end.
Language(s): Arabic4. ff. 19r-22vDelhi Persian 1441B(d), ff. 19r-22v.
Excerpt from an untitled treatise on the geometry of the rectangle attributed to the ‘late’ Mīrzā Khayr Allāh, that is, Abū al-Khayr Khayr Allāh ibn Luṭf Allāh ibn Aḥmad Lāhawrī the Nādir al-ʿAṣr.
Not dated at end.
Dense annotations in margins and interlinear spaces.
Language(s): Persian and Arabic5. f. 23rDelhi Persian 1441B(e), f. 23r.
Untitled Arabic note on the geometry of compound squares by an unnamed writer.
Not dated at end.
Diagram.
Language(s): Arabic6. ff. 24r-25rDelhi Persian 1441B(f.), ff. 24r-25r.
Untitled Arabic treatise on the method for calculating distances between Indian cities and other international sites, by an unnamed author, identified as al-Ustāz̲ al-mukarram al-mumajjid.
Not dated at end.
Interlinear annotations.
Language(s): Arabic7. f. 26rDelhi Persian 1441B(g), f. 26r.
Untitled diagram showing the division of the sphere relative to the locations of Dihlīand Makkah, with calculations in margins for relative distances, and additional annotations in Persian describing the figures.
Not dated at end.
Language(s): Persian and Arabic8. f. 27rDelhi Persian 1441B(h), f. 27r.
Untitled tabular calculations (alphanumerical) of longitude and latitude for the cities and provinces of Balkh, Bukhara, Tibet, Kashmir, Lahore, Peshawar, and Multan.
Not dated at end.
Language(s): Persian and ArabicPhysical Description
Form: codexExtent: 27 ff. (+2)Dimensions (leaf): 210 × 155 mm.Hand(s)
History
Origin: 28_Ramazan_1143 (6 April 1731 - 1749) AH ; IndiaProvenance and Acquisition
Purchased by the Government of India at sale organised by Delhi Prize Agents, 1859; administrative deposit India Office Library, 1876
1876
Government of India
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