Persian MS 330 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Language(s): Persian, Urdu, and Arabic
Physical Description
- Folios 1a-7b (works 1 and 2): sized and polished, cream-coloured paper.
- Folios 8a-41b (works 3 to 5): rough, unpolished paper.
- Folios 42a-66b (work 6): polished paper.
- Folios 67a-190b (works 7 and 8): unpolished paper.
Inscriptions:
- Various partially legible notations on right and left pastedowns.
- The first right flyleaf (f. ia), top-right quotes a quatrain by Abū Saʻīd ibn Abī al-Khayr (967-1049), while the lower-left bears a partially legible notation by a former owner, possibly dated 12 Rabī‘ II 1250 AH (18 Aug. 1834 CE).
Binding
Contents case-bound together in a contemporary hybrid style British-Indian binding. Sewn at two stations on cord supports, with edges trimmed and twined chevron endbands at head and tail. Covered in full red goatskin leather over pasteboards, with squares along the edges and without a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Cords put down on the board interiors then covered by pastedowns and connected to the text block with paper hinges.
Board exteriors decorated with blocked paper onlays featuring central central scalloped mandorlas bearing floral sprays, detached pendants, and corners in blind, with blind single fillet lines connecting them, and double fillet lines between the corners and bounding the perimeters.
Hand with caution. Binding in poor condition, with extensive abrasion to the exterior.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by Persian scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865).
After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts 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.
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History
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Additional Information
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived in turn 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 completed by James White in 2017.
Subsequently augmented and enhanced 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.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile).
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation, The John Rylands Research Institute, The Soudavar Foundation
Subjects
- Sufism
- Talismans
- Islam--Prayers and devotions
- Urdu language--Dialects--India
- Persian poetry
- Poets, Persian--India--Biography
- Poets, Hindi--1500-1800--Biography
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