Persian MS 328 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Pencilled Arabic numerals on the upper-left corners inscribed when catalogued.
Collation
Condition
Handle with care. Moderate insect and water damage.
Layout
Folios 2b to 8b written in an oblique (chalīpā) layout, with each panel containing two distichs written in four diagonal lines, followed by two additional distichs in the left margins, which with the headers comprise 12 lines per page. Folios 9a to 148b thereafter written in two columns with 9 lines per page, with the names of the poets and themes written in red within a narrow column between them. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Copied in a neat nasta'liq hand in black, with chapter headings and names of poets in red.
Decoration
Illuminated headpiece and gilt floral marginal decoration on the first page opening on folios 1b to 2a.
Some central text areas stencilled and tinted in either pale yellow or pink.
Table of Contents: The third to ninth right flyleaves a sides (ff. iiia– ixa) lists the names of poets within the volume.
Inscriptions:
- On the first right flyleaf a side, various pencilled notes by prior owners and booksellers with prices and identifiers: ‘S.2657’; ‘4452’; ‘£3.3’; ‘5/27’; ‘6/6/0’; ‘1.11.6’.
- On the ninth right flyleaf b side No. 15. Elegant Extracts, and the same number repeated again on 1a in the same hand. While unsigned, both closely comport with other similar inscriptions by Sir Gore Ouseley.
- ‘Rs’, and ‘Taẕkīrat al-Shu‘arā written in nasta'liq script.’
- Right pastedown: pasted catalogue entry of booksellers Howell and Stewart: 197 Tezkireh as Shoara, Elegant Extracts from a numerous list of Ancient and Modern Persian Authors, Persian, very neatly written on variously tinted paper, 4to, in the original embossed gilt Persian binding, 3l. 3s. This volume is rarely to be met with in this country, and highly esteemed in the East.
- Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ shelf mark ‘F/10’and ‘Bland MSS No. 548’.
Binding
Sewn at two stations, probably unsupoorted, with twined Islamic-style endbands in green and white silk. Covered in a hemmed binding without a flap (type III binding per Déroche).
Boards faced with pasteboard blocked in gold leaf featuring floral and figural arabesque designs, with the leather hemming along the board perimeters ruled with wide and narrow lines in gold.
219 × 149 × 23 mm.
Handle with caution. While the cover appears in good condition, the sewing of the initial gatherings seems loose.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
While a prior record suggested that British surgeon Samuel Guise, London law clerk Samuel Hawtayne Lewin (1795–1840), and Manchester librarian John Haddon Hindley (1765-1827), this volume neither contains any inscriptions in their hands, nor Hindley's bookplate, nor is it listed in their associated sale catalogues. Instead, unsigned inscriptions on the eighth right flyleaf b side and folio 1a comport with others by Sir Gore Ousleey (1770–1844). The earliest reference to the volume appears in the 1827 catalogues of antiquarian booksellers Howell and Stewart, offered for the price of £3 3s.
Subsequently acquired by English politician John Wilks (1776–1854), who sold his collection through the London firm of S. Leigh Sotheby & Co. on 12 to 23 Mar. 1847, where antiquarian dealer George Henry Bohn (1796–1884) purchased it for £1 1s.
Apparently purchased from Bohn by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865), after whose death, London antiquarian dealer 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 and concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish in 1898; however, he did not identify the work.
Manuscript correctly identified and described by James White with reference to the volume in 2017.
Record subsequently, corrected, augmented, and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand, and in consultation with Ursula Sims-Williams, British Library, regarding the provenance and Prof Hajnalka Kovacs, Harvard University, who provided references to the author.
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
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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