Persian MS 347 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
- Folios 1 and 1 ivory-coloured singletons watermarked with a sheild bearing a ram's horn with looped handle, surmounted by a coronet, with the initials GR underneath with ~1 mm between laid lines and ~24 mm between chain lines.
- Folios 2 to 49 of pale blue paper made by Valleyfield Mills in Peniciuk, Midlothian which bear a Britannia watermark and countermarked Valleyfield 1815 with ~1mm between laid lines and 25mm between chain lines.
- Folios 50 to 82 made by Molineaux & Johnston of The Pells of Lewes, East Sussex with Britannia watermarks and countermarked Molineaux & Johnston 1813 surmounted by triple plume with coronet (emblem of the Prince of Wales) with ~1.25 mm between laid lines and 27 mm between chain lines.
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column, with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a clear black nasta‘līq hand.
Inscriptions:
- Folio 1a: ‘Asul-un-Nughmah: the origins of melodies or sounds’ which someone later crossed out and wrote underneath: ‘A work on musical sounds’.
- Folio 79b: pencilled with the number ‘53907(?)10’.
- Folio 82b: pencilled number ‘89+/2’.
Binding
Rebound for Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford by Fazakerley of Liverpool, as per their stamp along the head of final left flyleaf a side (f. iva).
Resewn on four recessed cord supports, laced into the boards, with front bead double-core decorative endbands sewn in white and red silk threads at head and tail. Covered in European style, half-bound in dark blue morocco-grained goatskin leather. Sides faced with British-made dark blue moirée Spanish patterned marbled paper over-printed with gold veins. Endpapers of European handmade paper with ~1 mm between laid lines and ~28 mm between chain lines.
Paper sides bounded by gilt single fillet lines. Spine palleted with single fillets upon the bands and head and tail in gold with thick blind lines on both sides of the bands.
Titled: ‘TARJAMA-I NĀD PURĀN PERSIAN MS Nº 347 ABOUT A. D. 1800.’
309 × 198 × 16 mm.
Binding in excellent condition. Gutter margins pierced three times where previously stab-bound.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by 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 and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume in hand, and in consultation with Dr. Katherine Butler Schofield, King's College London, regarding the text and its contents.
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.
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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