Persian MS 338 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
While the opening denotes all fifteen chapter headings found in the original work, this volume only contains fourteen given in variant order, but omits one on naẕrī dishes offered by women to the poor during the month of Muharram. This redaction also varies from Bodleian MS Ouseley 15, no 2. British orientalist James A. Atkinson (1780–1852) published a loose translation of excerpted chapters in London in 1832.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 13 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in nasta‘līq In the hand of Aṣālat ʿAlī Bahārī in black.
Inscription: Folio 1a: signed ‘W Oliver’ by former owner William Oliver (d. 1847).
Bookplates: The left paste-down: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘>2/JG’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 558’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘338’ written aside.
Binding
Resewn on sawn-in cords at three stations, laced into the pasteboards, with single-core endbands of red and black silk, and spattered edges. Rebound in a European style, full speckled, medium-brown calfskin leather, with stiff-leaved russet red endpapers.
Board margins tooled with gilt single fillet lines crossed at the corners, with the spine palleted with double-fillet panel lines with dotted lines on either side, and a gilt dotted roll tooled on the edges of the boards.
191 × 130 × 10 mm.
In good condition but opening restricted to the gutter margins.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Formerly owned by East India Company employee and Royal Asiatic Society Fellow William Oliver (d. 1847), who graduated from Fort William College then ultimately served on the Council Board of the Madras Presidency before his retirement in 1836. Subsequently acquired by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865), after whose death London antiquarian 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.
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 his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description completed by James White in 2017.
Record subsequently ammended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume.
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, and the Soudavar Foundation
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