Persian MS 234 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
حسين بن حسن
Physical Description
Foliated with Arabic numerals, 305-433, with some folios missing or misplaced. Arabic folio 431 (present folio 121) displaced between 424b and 425a.
Collation
Condition
In fair condition, with discoloured and insect damaged areas and historical repairs.
Layout
Written in 1 column with 21 lines per page. Ruled with a miṣtarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
somewhat hastily copied in black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red by Ḥusayn bin Ḥasan.
Decoration
Ruling: Double-ruled in gold outlined in black and blue.
Table of Contents:
Binding
Repaired and uniformly rebound as a set with the other volumes in full brown calf.
Title and volume numbers titled in Latin on the spine.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The acquisition of the manuscript in India and its arrival in Britain and division into four volumes remains unclear.
Subsequently acquired by Methodist minister Rev. Adam Clarke (1762–1832), after whose 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 where bookseller John George Cochrane (1780–1852) purchased the set for £3 19 shillings.
Probably from Cochrane by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865) for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead. After his 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.
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.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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