Persian MS 348 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red.
Decoration
Illumination: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with a floral scrollwork on a yellow ground, with a similar trellis designs underneath a basmala cartouche set within red spirals. Margins painted with a rope designs with floral finials.
Inscriptions:
- The first right flyleaf a and b sides (ff. ia–b) bears several pencilled prices and sale marks.
- The fourth right flyleaf b side (f. ivb) inscribed:
‘Nº 16
Treatise on Music’
(with the word ‘Indian’ pencilled between them), probably in the hand of Sir Gore Ouseley which comports with other volumes that he - Folio 1a bears an obliterated note in Persian, partly legible, mentions the names of ‘Alīkhān Mushīr al-Mamālik and Mīrzā Qāsim ‘Alī Khān.
- Folio 1b underneath where torn off on the top right corner, bears the bottoms of the letters ‘G’ and ‘y’, very likely the signature of former owner Sir Gore Ouseley.
- The right pastedown bears an unidentified pasted sale catalogue entry:
‘TREATISE ON INDIAN MUSIC, in Persian, very neatly
written, in excellent condition fol. neat, 3. 3s.’ - Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/G’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 568’ with the name and number crosed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘348’ written aside.
Binding
Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in the Indian subcontinent. Unsupported sewing at two stations, edges trimmed, then twined chevron endbands in red and white threads worked at head and tail. Flyleaves of the same stock suggest that the original binder prepared them together with the text. Covered in full crimson pebble-grained goatskin leather over pasteboards, with squares at the edges, defined joints, but without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Light indigo-dyed papers line the insides of the boards, with the excess width adhered to the first and last flyleaves, with strips of paper, serrated along one edge, placed over top to disguise the overlap.
Board margins tooled with repeated single fillets with rows of insular dots between. Spine panels with vertical lines for bands and central florets, with the title ‘Tarjumah dar ‘Ilm-i Musīqī’ written in Persian.
250 × 168 × 23 mm.
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, concisely published as 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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