Persian MS 211 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Following paraphrased sections in Arabic, the text opens without any of the usual introductions, only two lines that praise of God. On that basis, Michael Kerney concluded that the volume once had "...a separate preface or introduction prefixed" since lost; however, the first quaternion quire appears intact with the text commencing on 1b, which suggests the contrary. For the corresponding Arabic source text, see Rylands Arabic MS 790, folios 5b–28a.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 21 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black naskh with subheaders in red.
Marginalia: Notes and commentary on the text written in the margins throughout.
Inscriptions:
- Folio 1b bears the transliterated title and ‘Nº 55’, which while unsigned comports with the hand of Sir Gore Ouseley as found in other volumes that he owned, with an adjacent price of ‘25 Rs’ [Rupees].
- A subsequent owner attempted to clip off Sir Gore Ouseley's autograph on the top-right corner of folio 2a, but part of it remains.
- Adjacent to the colophon on folio 157b bears a notation dated Saturday, 14 Ẕī-al-Qa‘dah 1114 [or 1114?] AH (1 Apr. 1703 CE) indicating someone compared the volume with a holopgrah copy written by the commentator himself:
‘قویل بید المولف بقدر الوسع و الامکان و الله المستعان
روز شنبه چهار دهم ذی قعده سنه ۱۱۱۴.’
- The left flyleaf b side (f. iib) bears an unidentified pasted catalogue entry, probably Howell and Stewart, probably remounted back into place when restored:
‘کتاب الایمان 346 Kitab ol Iman.
The Book of Faith ; a MS most beautifully written in a clear
Neskhi character, with great regularity and care, on even and polished
paper ; the margin wide and clear: altogether a very pleasing spe-
cimen of calligraphy. Fol. 312 pp. 1l. 8s.’ - Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 432’.
Binding
Covered in a hybrid British-Indian style in the Indian subcontinent in full polished red goatskin leather, without squares along the edges or a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Resewn when restored in Britain the 20th century on four supports, Spine subsequently rebacked in goatkin leather and new endpapers of mould-made straw-coloured papers added.
Boards decorated with recessed paper onlays for the central scalloped medallions, detached pendants, and corners, all blind stamps with floral scrollwork desigs. Additional blind single vertical fillet lines connect the central decoration, while another at the margins connects the cornerpieces.
281 × 185 × 36 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair condition. Exterior scuffed and abraded. Repairs to the corners. Interior endpapers joints breaking.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by Sir Gore Ouseley while in India, as per his unsigned numbered inscription on 1b and clipped autograph on folio 2a. He then brought the volume back to Britain, but then apparently sold a portion of his library in circa 1825, apparently to London booksellers Howell and Stewart, as per what appears to be their pasted catalogue entry on the left flyleaf b side (f. ivb), probably to pay for his then-newly leased home at 33 Upper Grosvenor StreetBelgravia, Mayfair, London prior to the birth of his eldest son, Frederic that year.
Probably thereafter purchased from Howell and Stewart 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.
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 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
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