Persian MS 403 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For another copy of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 927. For English translations of the geographical and zoological parts, see Le Strange and Stephenson.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 19 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 gilt palmette foliate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and an uninscribed central cartouche, and four vertical radiating lines.
Ruling: Folios 1b and 2a ruled in gold outlined with thin black lines, and surrounded by another single line. The margins of folios starting on 2b onwards ruled with single lines of ultramarine blue.
Chart: Folios 194b to 195 depicting the division of first through fifth climes through the Persian Gulf and adjacent regions.
Map: Folio 199b bears a detailed medieval style map of the world, with the north depicted at the bottom of the page.
Inscriptions:
- The right pastedown bears the title and author's name in transliterated Latin script.
- The right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the Persian title, author, and brief description of the contents, likely in the hand of his assistant Muhīn Dās, assistant to former owner Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868).
- Folio 1a bears a notation naming the title and author, dated 5 Rabī‘ I 1233 AH (13 Jan. 1818 CE), next to the numbers ‘390’ and ‘392’
Binding
Probably rebound in Delhi for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
Resewn on a single flat leather thong support, with the ends adhered to the first and last flyleaves. Edges trimmed, spine lined with cloth, then decorative European-style front-bead endbands sewn at head and tail in russet and white threads. Spine covered and board edges hemmed in reddish brown goatskin leather, with squares at the edges, and defined joints, but without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Boards faced with British-made 'shell' patterned marbled paper with preominantly red ochre spots and indigo veins.
Octagonal paper label on the spine bears the title in Persian.
259 × 151 × 54 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In poor condition with extensive losses in the leather on the spine and boards, broken endbands, and loose board attachments. Boxed.
‘نور محمد ولد عبد الشکور’ 11 × 15 × mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, latterly as Commissioner in Delhi. He acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum selected 352, now held in the British Library.
Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) purchased the remainder of Hamilton's collection in 1868.
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.
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). C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), pp. 418–420 [British Library Add. 16736 &c.]. G. Le Strange, Mesopotamia and Persia Under the Mongols in the Fourteenth Century A.D.: From the Nuzhat-Al-Ḳulūb of Ḥamd-Allah Mustawfī. London: Royal Asiatic Society,, 1903. Hamdullah al-Mustaufí, The Geographical Part of the Nuzhatu-L-Qulúb. Translated by G. Le Strange. London: Luzac & Co.,, 1919. Hamdullah al-Mustaufí, The Zoological Section of the Nuzhatu-L-Qulúb. Edited, Translated, and Annotated by J. Stephenson. [London]: Royal Asiatic Society, 1928. [NB corrected by Pelliot] P. Pelliot, “Les Formes Turques et Mongoles Dans La Nomenclature Zoologique Du ‘Nuzhatu-’l-Ḳulūb.’” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London Vol. 6, No. 3 (1931): pp. 555–580. E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), cols. 405–409, no. 681 [Bodleian Ouseley 152 (no. 15)]. C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. II, Pt. 1 (London: Luzac & Co., 1972), pp. 129–131, nos. 406–412 [Bodleian Ouseley MS 54, 55.
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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