Persian MS 235 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
This corresponds to Persian MS 231 folios 19b, line 11, to 24b, line 15.
Imperfect at the beginning, with Aṣl 1 and part of 2 missing, (corresponding to Persian MS 231 folios 47a, line 6 to the end of the volume on 93a):
Physical Description
Folios pencilled in Latin, beginning as from folio 2 (text 1b-452b); folios 287b, 288a blank.
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a miṣtarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Black ink, rubrics in red; elegant and consistent mixture of black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures, with red subheaders and Arabic quotations.
Table of Contents: Listed on the initial flyleaves.
Inscriptions: Folio 1a bears a prescription in Persian and ‘Nº 43’, which while unsigned comports with the hand of Sir Gore Ouseley.
Bookplates and Catalogue Entry:
- Right pastedown: Pasted catalogue entry from :
‘169 Kimiai Saadat, the Alchemy of Prosperity, being a treatise on Morals and Ethics. Persian, a good legible hand, sm. fol. half -bd. neat, 41.4s. A learned and much esteemed work.- Ouseley’ - Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 456’.
Binding
Strongly rebound; title in Latin on the spine.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Formerly owned by Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844), which while unsigned, the inscription on folio 1a comports with his hand on other volumes that he formerly owned.
Subsequently listed for sale by London firm of Howell and Stewart in their 1827–1828 catalogues.
Subsequently acquired 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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