Persian MS 141 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
A grammar of the Persian language in Latin in seventeen chapters, later published by von Dombay.
A collection of a hundred Persian expressions and proverbs with Latin translation by Levinus Warner, published in Leiden by Johannes Maire (ca. 1576–1657) in 1644 (cf. title page, f. 27a) as Proberbiorum et Sententiarum Persicarum Centuria collecta et versione notisque adornata a Levino Warnero. Title page published in Schmidt, fig. 22.
A collection of fifty Persian sentences, with Latin translation.
A collection of a hundred Turkish proverbs, beginning with an elif, with Latin translations. For fully transliterated transcriptions of the Ottoman, see Ekinci, pp. 57–60.
A collection of a hundred Turkish proverbs, beginning with the letters elif and vāv, to those beginning with cīm and çīm, with Latin translations. For fully transliterated transcriptions of the Ottoman, see Ekinci, pp. 61–64.
A collection of a hundred Turkish proverbs, beginning with the letters cīm and çīm to those beginning with ā, with Latin translations. For fully transliterated transcriptions of the Ottoman, see Ekinci, pp. 64–68.
A collection of a hundred Turkish proverbs, beginning with the letters ā and mīm to those beginning with mīm, with Latin translations. For fully transliterated transcriptions of the Ottoman, see Ekinci, pp. 68–72.
A collection of forty Turkish proverbs, beginning with the letter nūn to those beginning with a yā, with Latin translations. For fully transliterated transcriptions of the Ottoman, see Ekinci, pp. 72–74.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written from left-to-right in a European manner in 1 to 2 columns, with 15 to 25 lines per page. Unruled, but folded to create vertical columns as guides.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black naskh and Latin by Franz von Dombay .
Inscriptions:
- The left pastedown bears what may be an unidentified shelf mark ‘1/E’.
- The first left flyleaf b side (f. ib) bears what appears to be another shelf mark, ‘B.1.’, probably in Dombay's hand.
- A large bookplate of Frederic North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766–1827) numbered ‘Nº 123’.
- ‘Bland MSS 363’ with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘141’ written aside.
- ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘1/B’
Binding
Probably bound in the late 18th century for Franz von Dombay.
Unsupported sewing on several stations. Spine lined with cloth, edges left untrimmed. No endbands. Covered in half decorated pastepaper on the spine and fore-edge of the boards with finely spattered pebble marbled paper sides.
Spine panels palleted with triple fillets, with a red paper label titled
‘RUDIMENTA
LINGUAE
PERSICAE’
, all in gold.
315 × 217 × 26 mm.
Binding in good condition, with minor abrasion along the edges.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
After Donbay's death, presumably sold by his family then later acquired by Frederic North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766–1827), evidently after his succession in 1817 as per his bookplate, possibly in Italy, and catalogued by Machell Stace (1764–1842) (now British Library Add Ms 16180–16181), then taken to Corfu.
North intended to bequeath his library to the Ionian Academy (Ιόνιος Ακαδημία) which he established as a university in 1824; however, the government refused his stipulations, So, his surviving family members retrieved and sold his library through the London firm of Robert Harding Evans (1778–1857) at eight auctions between 1828 to 1835, with this volume appearing in the final sale on 16 Nov. 1835.
Possibly purchased at the sale by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865) for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead.
After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in June, 1866, paid in two instalments of £450 and £400, and then moved to Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
For a description of the contents, see Jan Schmidt, A Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the John Rylands University Library at Manchester and for a full transliterated transcription, see Mehmet Uğur Ekinci's (2013) essay.
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript handlist by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand.
Availability
To book an in-person or online appointment to consult the manuscript, visit Using the Special Collections Reading Rooms. For any other enquiries please email uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
Subjects
- Grammar
- Language and languages--Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
- Language and languages--Grammars
- Latin language--Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
- Persian language
- Persian language--Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
- Persian language--Grammar
- Turkish language
- Turkish language--Grammar
- Turkish language Terms and Phrases
- Turkish language Translating
- Vocabulary
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