Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Delhi Persian 903A (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī by Ḥusayn Vāʻiz̤ Kāshifī

Contents

Summary of Contents: A Persian didactic treatise on morality for princes called Akhlāq-i Muḥsinī written by Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Vāʻiẓ Kāshifī and dedicated to the last Timurid ruler, Sultān Ḥusayn Bāyqarā (1438-1506; r. 1469-1506), and his son, Muḥsin Mīrzā.
Title: اخلاق محسنی
Colophon: (f. 186v) Transcription completed on 24 Sha'ban 1137 (8 May 1725). Copied by Abū al-Fatḥ Multānī.

Title is recorded as Akhlāq al-Muḥsinī in note on on f.1r.

The patron's name has been erased from the colophon.

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: ff. i+186.
Dimensions (leaf): 226 × 142 mm.
Dimensions (written): 161 × 70 mm.
Foliation:

India Office Library stamped foliation with every fifth leaf numbered in pencil.

Collation

Catchwords on the bottom-left corners of the verso.

Condition

Good condition. The folios have been trimmed for binding.

Layout

15 lines per page, with verses arranged in two columns.

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq; Arabic quotations in naskh; copied in black ink, with headings and overlinings in red. Copyist is Abū al-Fatḥ Multānī.

Decoration

Illuminated polychrome headpiece dominated by gold and then blue but also containing red, green and brown(f. 1v).

Ruled margins in red, black, gold and blue, with blue single outer frame.

All couplets in ruled boxes.

Additions:

A label glued to the binding describes the script as vilāyatī.

A piece of paper stuck to f. 64r names five books which solidify one's faith. The first of five is the current work.

Binding

Binding wrapped in dark blue cloth.

Seal(s):

Black Government of India Delhi MSS oval stamp (ff. 1r, 2r, 186v).

History

Origin: 24 Sha'ban 1237 AH (8 May 1725); India, probably Multan.

Provenance and Acquisition

Purchased by the Government of India at sale organised by Delhi Prize Agents, 1859.

Acquired by the India Office Library as an administrative deposit in 1876.

Record Sources

Based on R. Levy's description in Drafts for Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. III, Mss Eur E207/33, f. 8. Revised by Ali Shapouran.

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. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.

Funding of Cataloguing

BL


Comments

Comment on this record

Please fill out your details.

How are we using your feedback? See our privacy policy.

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.

TO TOP