Persian MS 229 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

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Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: A complete manuscript of the Silsilah-'i Ẕahab (Golden Chain), first of seven books from the Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) by the late Timurid-era poet ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 1492). While it lacks a signature and date, its condition and 18th century provenance suggest it must be earlier, probably 17th century, and possibly completed in either Greater Iran or the Indian subcontinent.
Author: Jāmī جامی
Title: Silsilah-i Ẕahab
Title: سلسلة ذهب
Title: Silsilat al-Ẕahab
Title: سلسلة الذهب
Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): لله الحمد قبل کل کلام * بصفات الجلال والاکرام
Explicit: برگ ۱۷۸ر (folio 178a): ...به همین نکته ختم شد مقصود * لله الحمد والعلی والجود
Colophon: Uninformative, damaged colophon.
Language(s): Persian

For another copy of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 944, also the first work within a Khamsah (Quintet), Persian MS 227, and a Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones), Persian MS 949.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Textblock of cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivory-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with
Extent: 236 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 236 + i).
Dimensions (leaf): 230 × 142 mm.
Dimensions (written): 153 × 68 mm.
Foliation: Unfoliated.

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Handle text with caution. In fair condition, with extensive water and insect damage, breaks in the gutter margins, and historical repairs throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 to 2 columns with 14 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Decoration

Illumination: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with gilt palmette foliate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and an uninscribed central cartouche, and five vertical radiating lines. A similar headpiece appears at the start of another book on an undetermined folio.
Headpiece: 112 × 68 mm.

Ruling: Text margins ruled in gold outlined with single internal and double external thin black lines, with internal verdigris green and red single lines, and surrounded by blue single lines.

Additions:
Inscriptions: Folio 1a signed ‘Bunnares (Benares, Varanasi), 20th Nov. 1764, Alex. Dow.’
Bookplates and pasted items: The left pastedown:
  • Top: A pasted catalogue entry cut from :
    ‘273 SELSELET ALZEHEB- The Chain of Gold, by Jamy; small folio, pp 472, by the poet Jamy: a correct and ancient copy very well written, ruled beauti-
    fully with gold and colours; all the parts complete, with separate Anwans.’
  • Middle: Bookplate of Nathaniel Middleton.
  • ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/H’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 450’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘229’ written aside.

Binding

Possibly rebound in London for former owner Nathaniel Middleton.

Resewn on five raised cords laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed, and decorative front-bead endbands stitched at head and tail. Covered in full medium brown calfskin leather with squares along the edges and without a flap (Type II binding per Déroche).

Boards margins tooled with

Spine subsequently replaced (rebacked) in calfskin leather, tight-backed over raised bands and tight-jointed.

242 × 160 × 46 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition.

History

Origin: Possibly completed in either Greater Iran; or the Indian subcontinent; undated, but probably 17th century CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

Purchased for 40 rupees by Alexander Dow (ca. 1730–1779) on 20 Nov. 1764 in Benares (Varanasi).

After Dow's death at Bhagalpur, his survivors inherited and then sold his manuscript collection.

Probably acquired from Dow's survivors by Nathaniel Middleton (1750-1807), as per his bookplate on the left pastedown.

After Middleton's death, his survivors inherited and sold his manuscripts through the London firm of James Christie Jr (1773–1831) on 19 Feb. 1808 where bookseller William Baynes (fl. 1792–1841) purchased it for £1 8 shillings.

Probably sold by Baynes to his friend, Methodist minister Rev. Adam Clarke (1762–1832).

After Clarke's death, his son Jospeh Butterworth Bulmer Clarke (d. 1855) inherited the volume and describes its present state in a catalogue published in 1835.

The next year on 20 June 1836, Clarke's son auctioned his father's collection through the London firm of Sotheby & Son; however, this manuscript does not appear within it or subsequent sales of Clarke's collection. Instead, bookseller William Straker (fl. 1831–1856) apparently acquired the volume from Clarke and and offered it for sale in a catalogue printed later that year for £3 15 shillings.

Likely sold by Straker to 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 1866, and 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.

Subsequently augmented and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2024 with reference to the manuscript 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

    Mr. Christie, A Catalogue of the Very Valuable Collection of Rare and Curious Persian and Other MSS and a Few Books, of the Late Nathaniel Middleton, Esq. Dec. (London, J. Smeeton, Printer, 1808) p. 5, no 17
    J. B. B. Clarke, A historical and descriptive catalogue of the European and Asiatic manuscripts in the library of the late Dr. Adam Clarke, F.S.A., M.R.I.A. (London: J. Murray, 1835), p. 133, no. 171.
    W. Straker, A Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, on Sale by William Straker, (Successor to Howell and Co.) 443 West Strand, London, Removed from High Holborn. (London: Robson, Levey, and Franklyn, [1835]), p. 22, no. 122.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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