Persian MS 189 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
A note on the margins of folio:
‘محسن فانی گوید...’
(‘Muḥsin Fānī says...’) refers to authorship of those verses, not the entire work. Former owner Samuel Hawtayne Lewin, cites an addendum by Sir W. Ouseley (Travels, Vol. III, p. 564) who attributes the work to Mūbad Shāh and identifies Muhsin Fani as only the ‘poet quoted at the beginning’, on the basis of this manuscript, then in the possession of former owner Jonathan Duncan, a position accepted by current scholars. For another illustrated copy of this work also formerly owned by Duncan, see Rylands Persian MS 75 and 190. Regarding the attribution of authorship for this work to Mīr Ẕū al-Fiqār ‘Alī al-Ḥusaynī Ardistānī, see Mojtabāʾī and Barzegar.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide. Folio 192b left blank, while folio 182b features blank spaces intended for copying Arabic passages, but left incomplete.
Hand(s)
Copied in stylized black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures by Kāshī Nath.
Replaced folios 191a–192a copied in a hasty black naskh by another hand.
Inscriptions:
- The third right flyleaf a side (f. iiia):
Inscribed by Governor Jonathan Duncan, albeit unsigned:
Dabistan
This book is quite incorrectly written.
Also signed by former owner Samuel Hawtayne Lewin:
From Governor Duncan's Library
then underneath Duncan's comment above:
particularly in the Arabic quotations
then he continues continues:
N. Remarks on the Dabistán in the Bombay Transactions, vol. 2 p. 364 by William Erskine - The third right flyleaf b side (f. iiib) also inscribed by Lewin, who cites Sir William Ouseley attribution of this work to Mūbid Shāh, and Muḥsin Fānī as only ‘the poet quoted at the beginning’ rather than the author.
Binding
Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in the Bombay Presidency for former owner Jonathan Duncan (1756–1811), since the style comports with others he formerly owned.
Resewn on five recessed cord supports, probably frayed out and put down under the lifted doublures. Covered in full maroon goatskin leather over pasteboards, tightbacked, with defined joints, sqaures along the edges, but without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Spine bears three raised bands.
Boards decorated with recessed paper onlays for the central scalloped mandorlas, detached pendants, and cornerpieces. Board margins stained black. Thin single-rule lines connect the central decoration, with thin double lines connecting the corners, and thick and thin lines surrounding the perimeters of the boards, all in yellow.
266 × 168 × 45 mm.
Binding in fair but stable condition, with the opening to the gutter margins restricted and white salts (spew) on the exterior due to prolonged exposure to moisture.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by Jonathan Duncan (1756–1811), who governed the Bombay Presidency for 16 years from 1795 until his death.
After Duncan's death, his surviving family inherited then sold his library through the London firm of Samuel Leigh Sotheby (1805–1861) where one of the Six Clerks of the Court of Chancery and Royal Asiatic Society Fellow Samuel Hawtayne Lewin (1795–1840) acquired it for 10 shillings and sixpence, then signed folio 1a.
After Lewin's death, his family inherited then apparently sold his manuscripts, with many subsequently acquired by 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.
Record Sources
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.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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