Persian MS 406 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
The initial portion comports with another surviving redaction held in the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS Persian 137).
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 to 2 columns with 17 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a clear, minute 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 surmounted by vertical radiating lines.
Line Fill: All lines on folios 1b and 2a outlined with reverse cloud bands infilled with a gold wash.
Ruling: Margins of folios 8b ruled in gold outlined with thin interior single and exterior double black lines, with green interior and blue exterior single lines, thereafter with the gold replaced by yellow thereafter, surrounded red and blue single lines.
Inscriptions:
- The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) pencilled ‘Bihamee’(?) while a Persian inscription misidentifies the work as mainly the Zubdat al-Tavaarīkh (Cream of Histories) of Faz̤l Allāh Rashīd.
- The second right flyleaf a side (f. iia) bears the title of the work.
Binding
Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in the Indian subcontinent for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
Unsupported resewing at two stations, with endpapers added of medium-weight, cross-grained heavily flocked stock, probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent, with ~10 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines. Edges trimmed and twined chevron endbands worked in green and red silk threads over round cores at head and tail. Half bound in medium brown goatskin leather over pasteboard, with block-printed gilt decorated paper sides. Internal pastedowns of the same stock as the ends, with the excess width adhered to the first and last flyleaves to connect the cover to the textblock.
Spine bears a paper label with the spine written in nasta‘līq.
289 × 166 × 40 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair condition, with extensive abrasion to the exterior.
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)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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