RSPA 8 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

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India Office Library

Jones Collection

Royal Society Arabic and Persian

Contents

1 copy of Mirʾāt-i Sikandarī by Sikandar ibn Mu'hammad ʿArab Manjhū ibn Akbar

Language(s): Persian

Title: Mirʾāt-i Sikandarī
Title: مرآت سکندر

The gap in the explicit represents where a word has been almost entirely efface because of repair tape. The only letter which remains visible is a final tā.

Incipit: الحمد لله الذی جعل فردا من افراد البشر
Explicit: که بسیاری بوقت صبح یکدعا بکند __ت تمام شد تواریخ کجرات
Author: Sikandar ibn Mu'hammad ʿArab Manjhū ibn Akbar سکندر ابن محمد عرب منجهو ابن اکبر

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Very thin and heavily restored brown woven paper.
Extent: ff.i+274+ii
Dimensions (leaf): 250 × 145 mm.
Dimensions (written): 160 × 80 mm.
Foliation:

Irregular foliation using Urdu numerals.

Condition

Poor condition. Heavy restoration of considerable worm damage. At f143, the manuscript comes apart from the binding and f167 is a loose folio.

Layout

Hand(s)

Neat black ink nastaʿlīq with rubrications.

Decoration

Additions:

There are infrequent marginal comments in Persian. On f1v, Jones has written "Towārīkh-i-Gujarāt: A History of the Province of Gujarat".

Binding

Red leather European-style Indian binding with gilded circular frieze patterning.

Accompanying Material

History

Origin: 17th century CE ; India

Provenance and Acquisition

RSPA 1-118 were presented to the Royal Society in January 1792 by Sir William and Lady Jones. According to Wilkins, this manuscript was presented 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

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. 5 no. VIII

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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