Persian MS 203 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Single column with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a neat and legible nasta‘līq script in black ink throughout.
- The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia): ‘Tales of the Genii’, also by Turner Macan
- The final left flyleaf b side (f. iib) inscribed ‘End of List’.
- Spine mistitled:
‘Kissahi Char Derwish’ (Tale of the Four Dervishes).
- Left paste-down ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘F/9’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 424’.
- The left board by the tail of the spine, bears a circular label numbered 439/2, which comports with the lot number for the sale of this volume by in 1838.
Binding
Bound in a European style without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche) with a quarter buff-coloured paper spine, European Stormont patterned marbled paper sides, and blue sprinkled edges. Flyleaves of wove paper watermarked ‘J. Whatman 1815’, manufactured by the Whatman Paper Mill in Maidstone, Kent, then owned and operated by William Balston (1759–1849) added at beginning and end.
Titled ‘Kissahi Char Derwish’ (Tale of the Four Dervishes) in Latin script in black ink on the spine.
226 × 153 × 13 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Evidently acquired by Persian translator for the British East India Company, Turner Macan (1792–1836). While this volume lacks his signature as found on other volumes that he formerly owned held in the Rylands, the same title, Tales of the Genii, appears in the auction catalogue of his oriental manuscripts that his family sold through Robert Harding Evans (1777–1857) in London on 12 Dec. 1838 (p. 20, lot 439). Since the catalogue lists this volume together with another untitled work of Persian poetry, and the round label on the bears that same number, and the marginalia also comports with Macan's hand in other manuscripts that he formerly owned, this must be the same work and confirms his prior ownership.
Purchased at the sale by London bookseller William Straker (fl. 1831–1856) for 7 shillings.
Probably sold by Straker to Persian scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865), after whose death London antiquarian dealer Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866.
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 catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2020 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)
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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