Persian MS 332 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: A translation of the Arabic poetry collection known as al-Faraj ba‘d al-Shiddat (Pleasure After Pain) authored by al-Muḥassin ibn ʻAlī al-Tanūkhī (ca. 940–994), rendered into Persian by Ḥusayn ibn Asʿad Dihistānī (fl. 11th c.).

Author and Bibliographic antecedent: Tanūkhī, al-Muḥassin ibn ʻAlī, ca. 940–994
al-Tanūkhī, ca. 940–994
التنوخی

Author and Translator: Ḥusayn ibn Asʿad Dihistānī, fl. 11th c.
حسین ابن اسعد الدهستانی

Scribe: Vilāyat

Title: al-Faraj Baʻd al-Shiddat

Title: الفرج بعد الشدة

Incipit: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): وأجاد لهم بالتي هي أحسن

Explicit: که ذات اوست به کرم لطف سزاواری

Language(s): Persian

Colophon: No colophon

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Slightly polished, cream-coloured paper. Text block made of slightly polished, sprinkled, coffee-coloured wove paper.

Extent: 498 folios, 6 flyleaves (ff. iii + 498 + iii).

Dimensions (leaf): 285 × 180 mm.

Dimensions (written):

Condition

Handle with caution. In poor but stable condition, with water damaged folios Some damage to spine.

Layout

Hand(s)

Copied in a clear black nasta’līq hand with Arabic naskh and subheaders in red, attributed to Vilāyat on the spine label.

Additions:
Inscriptions: Folio 1a ‘Furj [sic.] bad az shiddat – ‘pleasure after pain’. Translated from an Arabic work now lost – a highly balanced and outstanding work – written in Persian’.

Binding

Covered in full red goatskin leather.

Spine bears the title in Persian:
ترجمۀ فرج بعد از شدت بخط ولایت

Seal(s):

Folio 1a bears a seal impression with the name of a former owner or associate, Abū al-Muḥassin dated 1283 AH (1866–1867 CE)

History

Origin: Possibly completed by Vilāyat probably in the Indian subcontinent; ; undated, probably 17th century CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently acquired by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865) for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead. After his death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866, and moved to Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.

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, Manchester.

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, 1898.

Manuscript description by James White in 2018 with reference to the volume in hand.

Record subsequently amended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2022.

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.

Bibliography

Abū Turāb al-Muḥassin ibn ʻAlī Tanūkhī Khusravī and Ḥusayn ibn Saʻd ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Muʼayyadī Dihistānī. Faraj-i Baʻd az Shiddat: Jāmiʻ al-ḥikāyāt. Edited by Mays̲am Zaydī. Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarjamah va Nashr-i Kitāb-i Pārsah, 1391 SH (2012 CE).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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