Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

RSPA 6 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Jones Collection

Royal Society Arabic and Persian

Contents

1 copy of Tarjumah-'i Risālah-'i Mufaz̤z̤al by Mufaz̤z̤al ibn ʿUmar

Language(s): Persian & Arabic

Persian translation by Muḥammad Bāqir Majlisī of Risālat al-Tawḥīd.

On f0er, there is a further note in Persian explaining that the text was originally written in Arabic, but was translated by Muḥammad Bāqir Majlisī.

The colophon is extremely difficult to read, partly because the handwriting is so bad. It provides the date and appears to provide the location and the name of either the scribe or the person who commissioned the work. The handwriting is so difficult as to provide any certainty.

Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. الحمد لله الذي هدانا إلى التوحيد بصفوته.
Explicit: اینجا متنهی شد رساله شریفه یعنی ترجمه توحید امام حعفر صادق

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Porous woven paper.
Extent: ff.iii+123+iv
Dimensions (leaf): 180 × 130 mm.
Dimensions (written): 150 × 80 mm.
Foliation:

European numerals in pencil.

Condition

The textblock is in very good condition. There are supports and guards.

Layout

Uniform layout across the manuscript of one column per page, except for the final, largley illegible, colophon, that is written transversely across the page.

Hand(s)

Very difficult to read nastaʿlīq script. Arabic text is written in a very clear naskh.

Decoration

Additions:

There are some, infrequent, marginal comments in Persian. On f1r, there is a note in Persian explaining the contents of the work and another note which states that this is the first part of the Risālah. There is also the invocation "yā kabīkaj"written on f1r six times (three in pen, three in pencil). On f1v, Jones has written an illegible note, which appears to say "an Maphismo" but the meaning of this is unclear. After the textblock, there are several pages of invocations written out transversely down the page in the same hand.

Binding

Standard India Office half leather binding with marbled endpapers.

Accompanying Material

History

Origin: 23_Muḥarram_1170 AH; 18 October 1756 CE ; India

Provenance and Acquisition

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

Manuscript description based on E. Denison Ross and E. G. Browne, Catalogue of two collections of Persian and Arabic manuscripts preserved in the India Office Library (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1902), p. 3 no. VI

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

Subjects


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