RSPA 46 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
India Office Library
Jones Collection
Royal Society Arabic and Persian
The Collected Works of Jami, 26 items
Contents
Language(s): Persian
Biographies of Sufi saints.
Text in two central columns.
/>
Text in the margins placed transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-uns.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
This work is incomplete and ends in the middle of a quatrain on the name Shahāb. It is an extract from the Kitāb Ḥilyat al-Ḥulalon riddles.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
On the order of Bahā al-Dīn Naqshbandī.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
This text is the only work in the manuscript that does not belong to Jāmī. It is entitled Risālah in this manuscript.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
A commentary on two lines of Rūmī's Mas̲navī.
This work is written in the margins transversely around the Nafaḥāt al-Uns.
The first part of the first dīvān containing qaṣīdahs and other occasional verses.
Text in central two columns except for f424r which is blank.
Central text in two columns.
The second part of the first dīvān which is composed mostly of ghazals; from 658v there are qiṭaʿāt and from f663r the rubāʿīyāt.
There is a space of about four lines between the top of the column and the beginning of the text on f424v.
There are spaces for titles above the ghazals in this section, but they have been left blank.
The second dīvān.
Prose preface follows initial verses on f674r.
Central text in two columns.
Jāmī's third dīvān.
Central text in two columns.
Ff 925 and 926 are out of order; this has been annotated on the manuscript.
After this dīvān, the rest of the manuscript does not separate out columns and margins and the Kitāb-i Lamaʿāt is written across the whole page from centre to margin.
There is a short prose preface on f836v.
The first work in Jāmī's Haft awrang.
Part II begins on f454r and part III begins on f490r.
This text and all the following items are written in the margins around the Dīvāns until f926r.
The second work in Jāmī's Haft awrang .
The third work in Jāmī's Haft awrang .
The fourth work in Jāmī's Haft awrang .
The fifth work in Jāmī's Haft awrang .
The sixth work in Jāmī's Haft awrang.
The seventh and final work in Jāmī's Haft awrang.
After f926, the text runs continuously down the page, inclusive of margins.
The explicit is part of a chronogram which states that the text was finished in 886AH. William Jones took this to mean the manuscript was copied during Jāmī's lifetime, as he notes on f954r. However, as is clear from the scribal colophon, the manuscript was copied in Shaʿbān 940AH (March 1534) after Jāmī's death.
Physical Description
Perso-Arabic numerals in black ink.
Condition
Textblock in good condition. Manuscript in two parts. Binding detached.
Layout
Two central columns and marginal text round the edge.
/>Hand(s)
Neat nastaʿlīq script throughout the manuscript in black ink.
Decoration
The text is prefaced by a blue and gold shamsah forming a table of contents in two concentric rings.
Each new text has a blue and gold headpiece, including the marginal texts which have small gold headpieces inside of which the title of the text is written in thuluth script.
There are some, very irregular, annotations where Jones has highlighted extracts with curly brackets.
On the first folio, Jones has written out some mathematical calculations and, on the final folio, he has written out Jāmī's death date (in Hijrī and Gregorian calendars) and the date (1791) of his acquisition of the manuscript. In misreading Jāmī's authorial colophon, he believed the manuscript dated from Jāmī's lifetime.
Binding
Detached brown leather and board binding.
Accompanying Material
Taped to the inside of the front cover is a note by Major Francis Skelly, which reads, "The Fortress of Bangalor was stormed and taken by the British troops on the night of the 21st of March 1791 — This book (found, the day following, in the palace of Tipoo Sultaun) is respectfully presented to Sir William Jones by his obedient and humble servant Fras. Skelly Maj. 74th Regiment" and it is dated 22nd March 1791 from the Camp near Bangalore.
Loose in the manuscript, there is also a letter from a W. Taylor to a W? Bayard.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Acquired by Jones from Major Francis Skelly in 1791 having previously belonged to Tipu Sultan in Bangalore.
RSPA 1-118 were presented to the Royal Society in January 1792 by Sir William and Lady Jones.
The Royal Society's collection of 280 Persian and Arabic, and 86 Sanskrit manuscripts were transferred to the India Office Library in 1876.
1876
India Office Library
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact British Library, Registering for a Reader Pass. Contact apac-enquiries@bl.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.
Funding of Cataloguing
BL
Please fill out your details.