Delhi Persian 81B (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

Extensive treatise on esoteric aspects of Sufism and the occult sciences by Shaykh Muḥammad Ghaws̲ Gavālyārī, or Muḥammad ibn Khaṭīr al-Dīn ibn Laṭīf ibn Muʿīn al-Dīn Qattāl ibn Khaṭīr al-Dīn ibn Bāyazīd ibn Khvājah Farīd al-Dīn Nayshāpūrī ʿAṭṭār (d. 970/1562), the latter descends from the Ismāʿīlī imams after Imām Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq.

The author wrote the work at the age of fifty, in 956/1549.

Not dated at end. Dateable to the late sixteenth century.

Replacement folios 1-10, 199-201, at the very least.

Note at the beginning (f. 1r) confirms the folio count as 204.

Annotated and corrected, occasionally densely, in margins and interlinear spaces by the scribe and many later hands.

Diagrams on folios 174v, 176r, 179r, 189v-190r.

Stamped foliation.

Binding, red half leather IOL covers, stamp dated 27 Sep 1916.

Folios cut and remounted with new margins and rebound; severely cropped, gauze overlay, water stains, creases, wormholes, later repairs.