Persian MS 24 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
The pencilled foliation omits the first folio.
Layout
Hand(s)
Decoration
A double-page frontispiece within an illuminated border on folios 0a and 1a, in addition to five miniatures. The illuminations are in Turkman style.
Binding
Contemporary binding with flap missing and spine seemingly replaced in France in the eighteenth-century . It bears the inscription in gilt 'AMOURS DE MEHER EN LANGUE PERSIENNE' and the crest of a castle. The covers are of dark leather with sunken gilt medallions, pendants and corner-pieces embossed with floral arabesques. The doublures are similar, with one or two leaves etc. picked out in blue.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The colophon on folio 220a does not give the name of the copyist or the date of the manuscript, but contains the author's name and the date of composition of the poem (788/1386). B.W. Robinson suggests that the manuscript itself is around a century later.
A seal of a capital 'L' surmounted by some sort of coronet appears in one or two places in the manuscript.
Formerly part of the collection of the orientalist Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy (1758-1838). The manuscript then became part of the collection of the Persian scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865). Bland’s oriental manuscripts were sold through Bernard Quaritch in 1866 to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands, on behalf of the John Rylands Library, in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993. Identification of provenance based on manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s.
Codicological description based on B.W. Robinson, Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library: A Descriptive Catalogue (London, 1980).
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
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