Persian MS 249 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Michael Kerney notes that in comparison to most versions, this volume lacks roughly half the usual contents. The incipit matches Bodleian MS. Selden superius 98; see Sachau and Ethé.
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column, with 8 lines. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Decoration
Spray-painted stencilled designs throughout, including foliate arabesque headings and triangles adjacent to oblique lines, as well as decorative margins— especially of central quire double-page bifolia— with ducks, doves, deer, and cloud bands. Other margins masked and the central text areas finely sprayed in in pink and red, or vice-versa. Marginal ruling in gold, outlined in black.
Folios 18, 35, 42, 57, 62, 74–75, and 94–95 spattered with corrosive verdigris (copper acetate), now severely degraded.
Headings and added verses on folios 59a and 86b subsequently overpainted in red.
Inscriptions:
- Marginalia on folios 40b, 63a, and 80b.
- right paste-down top, ‘Diwan Shahi’
- Also inscribed on the right paste-down, unsigned, but very likely in the hand of Sir Gore Ouseley: ‘A collection of amatorial Poems by Shahi, a persian Poet. There is a Turkish commentary upon these poems among the Laudian MSS in the Bodleian Library of Oxford’ along with ‘No. 55’ at the bottom (however, this does not appear to comport to the volume that he describes in his Biographical Notices).
- A pencilled note in another minuscule hand written between the lines of the above: ‘quoted by De Sacy in his notes to the Pandnameh of Attar, 307, 309.’
- Folio 103a inscribed with lines by Qāsim Anvār (1356–1433) in shikastah script.
- Folio 103b bears an unidentified couplet written vertically in nasta‘līq script.
Binding
Covered in full, polished black, very fine-grained probably calfskin leather, over thin pasteboard with fore-edge and envelope flap (hence type II binding per Déroche, with flap), with minimal insect damage. Repairs to the head and tail edges and fore-edge of the right board in thinned black goatskin leather, with heavier patches applied to the head and tail of the spine. Thick, bone-coloured European wove endpapers. Envelope flap interior lined with the same goatskin leatherused for exterior repairs.
Boards stamped with central mandorlas with floriate arabesque scrollwork and a smaller medallion featuring a lotus design upon the envelope flap exterior. Once repaired, a binder titled the spine at the head in gold with handle letters ‘Diwan Shahi M.S.’ Further decorated with thin and thick blind fillet lines on the boards, with centring marks adjacent to the blocked impressions, and vertical blind fillet lines on the fore-edge flap.
172 × 105 × 18 mm.
handle with caution. In fair condition. The binding separates from the text block.
Impressed on folio small, circular, partially-legible namesake seal intaglio-carved in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines in the centre, impressed in black ink bearing a pious Arabic formula that invokes the family of the Prophet, which indicates the name of former owner or associate Muḥammad Muṣṭafá:
‘(?)آل محمد مصطفی جمعی’
13 × 15 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Impressed with a namesake seal of a former owner or associate named Muḥammad Muṣṭafá
While unsigned, an inscription on right paste-down appears to comport with the hand of Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844).
Subsequently acquired by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865), after whose death London antiquarian bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to in 1866 to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880).
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.
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.
Manuscript description completed by Jake Benson in 2021 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 Soudavar Memorial Foundation
John Rylands Research Institute
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