Persian MS 312 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Textblock comprised of thin, sized, and highly polished ivory-coloured paper, possibly handmade in Khurasan.
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 26 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a small but clear nasta‘līq hand in black ink, along with lines indicating section breaks, subheaders, as well as verse markers in red.
Emendations and comments in a second nasta‘līq hand with shikastah finials.
Inscriptions:
- Right flyleaf a side (ia) bears a neatly pencilled title in Persian, with corresponding English, likely in the hand of former owner Nathaniel Bland:
‘N. folio 4 verso c. l.’
‘Dowletshah 333’
‘The Author 541’
- Folio 1a inscribed with the title in Persian, the number ‘567’ in an unidentified hand:
‘Tuzkireh al Shoâra by Takieddin Mohammed al-Hussaini surnamed Zikri, V. D'Hub. Takieddin Mohammed al-Hossaini qui the same author’ with a pencilled number ‘[L?] 44’ to the left.
- Folio 1b, signed by former owner John Herbert Harington above the header:
‘Tuzkireh ool Shoraa[sic] of Meer Mohammed Takee.’
Binding
Likely rebound for John Herbert Harington (1765–1828) in ca. 1800. Resewn on three sawn-in cords laced into the pasteboards, with added British wove endpapers. Textblock edges trimmed and spattered in blue. Covered in an a British-style full calfskin leather tight-backed and tight-jointed binding. Since depressions of a sunken mandorla and detached finials appear evident under the pastedowns, it seems that the bookbinder recovered the original boards after turning them inside-out.
Board exteriors spattered in black, probably to the book after rebinding. Board margins decorated with a foliate decorative roll, and the edges rolled with diagonal thick solid and double thin dotted lines in gold. Spine panels palleted with pairs of double-fillets, with perpendicular single rope lines on the headcaps and criss-crossed by the tail, along with central panel ornaments featuring a bird with outstretched wings in a landscape, and titled ‘TUSKEEREH AL SHOARA M. S.’ also all in gold.
232 × 167 × 64 mm.
Handle with caution. Binding in fair condition, with exterior cover abrasion, bumped corners, and endbands missing at head and tail.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Formerly owned by orientalist, colonial administrator, and judge John Herbert Harington (1765–1828), who critically published the Arabic and Persian works of the poet Sa‘dī in Calcutta in two volumes between 1791 to 1795.
Subsequently acquired by Persian scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865), after whose death London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866.
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, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, in 1898.
Manuscript description 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 John Rylands Research Institute
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