RSPA 86 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)
India Office Library
Jones Collection
Royal Society Arabic and Persian
Contents
The second part of a Ḥanafī legal text book
Language(s): Arabic
William Jones has annotated the manuscript with the title and his name on f1v.
There do not appear to be any ownership seals on this manuscript, but these can be found for this manuscript in MS RSPA 85, which is the first half of the text (see colophon).
This MS is slightly differently laid out from MS RSPA 85. There are more written lines per side and the text is found within a red and blue thin-line text box. The hand is the same, however.
On the front cover of the MS, there is a smudged "W.J." next to (in Arabic script) "Hidāyah jald[ayn?] [aḥmarayn?]".
Physical Description
European numerals in pencil.
Condition
Folios are in relatively good condition in comparison with the folios of MS RSPA 85, its sister manuscript and the first half of the same text. There is some worm damage across the MS and between ff. 100 and 103 there is a large ink stain which permeates through the folios.
Layout
Uniform layout of one column of 24 lines per page written in the coloured text box.
Hand(s)
Neat black naskh with rubrications.
Decoration
As in MS RSPA 85, there are copious marginal annotations by an array of different hands, including on f1r before the text begins.
On f1v, William Jones has written "The Hiāyah, W. Jones".
Binding
Red European style Indian binding with circular patterned stamped border.
Accompanying Material
History
Provenance and Acquisition
RSPA 1-118 were presented to the Royal Society in January 1792 by Sir William and Lady Jones. According to the Wilkins Catalogue, this MS was presented to the Royal Society by 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.
Surrogates
Funding of Cataloguing
BL
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