Persian MS 207 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written primarily in 2 columns with 12 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with white subheaders on illuminated backgrounds..
Decoration
Illumination: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with gilt palmette foliate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and an uninscribed central cartouche, and four vertical radiating lines.
Ruling: Folios 1b and 2a ruled in gold outlined with thin black lines, and surrounded by another single line. The margins of folios 2b onwards ruled with single lines of ultramarine blue.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 327’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘123’ written aside.
Binding
Contemporary binding, probably completed in the Ottoman empire
Resewn at two stations. Edges originally trimmed, and endbands added, but now lost. Covered in full polished medium brown goatskin leather over pasteboards. twined at head and tail.
219 × 143 × 34 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In poor condition, with the flap breaking.
A single oval black seal impression in two stacked nasta‘līq lines, double-ruled, bears the name of Sayyid Ibrāhīm ibn Sayyid Ibrāhīm read from the middle then down then up:
‘بنده ابراهیم قدیمجی’
11 × 16 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently owned by at least two individuals, one illegible, and another named Sayyid Ibrāhīm ibn Sayyid Ibrāhīm who signed page 0 adjacent to his seal impression.
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Europe remains unclear, a neat French hand indicates someone of that nation or knowledgeable in that language somehow acquired the volume.
Subsequently obtained by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865) from an unidentified source 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.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2024 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.
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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