Persian MS 192 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
- Folios 1–144, 153–208 and 248 of thin-weight salmon-pink tinted, with ~12 laid lines per cm and few discernible chain lines.
- Folios 145–152, 209–247, 249–313, and 386–472 of thin-weight buff-coloured, flocked paper, possibly tinted a pale pink, with ~10 laid lines per cm and few discernible chain lines.
- Folios 314–385 of medium-weight naturally buff-coloured paper, with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 23 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
A majority of folios in the written in clear black nasta‘līq with occasional red markings in the appendices.
Folios 244 to 314 written in another comparatively angular black nasta‘līq hand.
Marginalia: Notes in various hands in the margins throughout.
Inscriptions:The fourth right flyleaf a side (f. iva) bears an unsigned note by Sir William Jones (1746–1794) declares that Thomas Law (1756–1834) presented it to the Asiatick Society in Calcutta (Kolkata):
‘Given to the Asiatick Society by Thos. Law Esq.’
A second pencilled autograph of former owner Samuel Hawtayne Lewin appears at top, with another note underneath Jones' stating:
‘Bought at the sale of the Books of Sir Wm Jones whose handwriting is above. 1831.’ Bookplates: Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/B’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 413’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘192’ written aside.
Binding
Possibly rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Calcutta (Kolkata) for Thomas Law (1756–1834) during his tenure in the East India Company between 1773 and 1791
Endpapers of fairly coarse, flocked stock, probably handmade in Bengal added at front at back, together with flyleaves of bright pink, surface-tinted Chinese Xuan paper, with ~12 laid lines per cm and 23 mm between laid lines. Resewn on three cord supports, either laced in or frayed out on pasteboards. Edges trimmed, and endbands added at head and tail, now lost. Covered in full highly polished dark brown goatskin leather, with three raised bands upon the spine in the European manner, together with a fore-edge and pentagonal envelope flap, all cut flush with the edges of the texblock (Type II binding per Déroche). Board interiors of the same leather, extended in width to attach the cover to the second and penultimate flyleaves, with
Boards and flap originally decorated with central scalloped mandorlas, detached pendants, and cornerpieces upon gilt stamped paper, most now mising. Fore-edge flap bears a cartouche flanked by the the same detached pendants. Additional vertical single-line ruling in connects the central decoration, with double-lines connecting the cornerpieces, and thing-and-thick lines one the outer margins.
305 × 228 × 71 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition. Exterior decoration suffers extensive losses, frayed headcaps, missing endbands, cracking joints, and general wear along hte edges.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by East India Company civil servant Thomas Law (1756–1834), who presented it to the Asiatick Society in Calcutta (Kolkata) between 1784, the year of that institution's founding and 1791 when he returned to Britian.
Evidently borrowed from the Society by Sir William Jones (1746–1794), at whose death his executors evidently assumed it to be his, and thus inherited Lady Jones, who brought it to Britain with the rest of his private library.
After Jones death, his wife Lady Anna Maria Jones (1748–1829) inherited the volume, then after her death, the London firm of R. H. Evans (1778–1857) sold it on 20 May 1831 (lot 453), to bookseller John George Cochrane (1781–1852), who likely acted as an agent on behalf of Chancery Court Clerk and Royal Asiatic Society member Samuel Hawtayne Lewin (1795–1840), for whom he evidently also obtained other ex-Jones volumes (e.g. Rylands Persian MS 187 and 240; see Lawrence, 'Building a Library', pp. 34, 70, Appendix 3).
After Lewin's death, his family evidently sold his manuscripts, largely then obtained 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 2023 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
Subjects
- Medicine
- Medicine (Drugs)
- Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions--Early works to 1800
- Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions
- Medicine, Medieval
- Medicine, Persian
- Pharmacology
- Pharmacology--Early works to 1800
- Pharmacopoeias
- Pharmacy
- Pharmacy--Early works to 1800
- Pharmacy--Terminology
- Science--Islamic Empire--History
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