Persian MS 435 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Note that prior owners or readers misidentifed the manuscript as another work with the same title, the Persian translation by the poet ‘Azīzī from the Arabic original by Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd Shahrazūrī, (fl. 13th century). Michael Kerney previously attributed a later date due to a misattribution for another copy owned by Richard Johnson (see Ethé catalogue). However, the 19th-century Awadh royal library seal impressions and notations written over repairs on folio 1a, and generally poor condition of the manuscript prior to restoration, indicate that the date furnished in the colophon appears accurate, hence this volume dates 20 years after the work's original completion. See Storey regarding the correct 17th-century attribution for the work, further confirmed by a comparable volume completed in 1105 AH (1693–94 CE) (British Library Or. 13853, see Waley catalogue).
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
ًWritten in 1 column with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red.
Inscriptions:
- The second right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the title and name of former owner George William Hamilton written in bold nasta‘liq, likely in the hand of his assistant Muhīn Dās.
- Folio 1a:
- Top: The title and description of the work, with a misattribution for the transaltion to ‘Azīzī.
- A partly legible note in red aside describes the work.
- Centre: The title in hasty shikastah, with another note underneath recording that the volume contains 450 folios, with ‘Number 53’ writter under that.
- Bottom: Accession notation adjacent to the seal of Wājid ‘Alī Shāh, King of Awadh (r. 1847–1856) (no. 3), dated 5 Rabī‘ I 1262 AH (3 Mar. 1846).
Binding
Rebound in a British-Indian hydrid style, probably in Multan, for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868).
Resewn at two stations, with twined chevron endbands in green and red silk threads. Rebound tight-backed in a hybrid British-Indian style full red goatskin leather binding with defined joints, squares at the edges of the beards, and headcaps. Internal doublures of the same goatskin leather as on the exterior. with the hinge put down on the first and last flyleaves, with a strip of handmade paper adhered over top.
222 × 130 × 49 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair condition, but opens poorly. Some abrasion on the exterior edges and headcaps cracking. Beware the breaks and reapirs between folios 242b and 243a.
1: Seal impression of the library of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837) dated 1244 AH (1828–29 CE), inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh:
‘ خوش است مهر کتبخانه سلیمان جاه * بهر کتاب مزین چو نقش بسم الله، ١٢۴۴’
‘Khvush ast muhur-i kitābkhānah-'i Sulaymān Jāh bahr-i kitāb; muzayyin chaw naqsh-i basmallah, 1244 ’ (‘The seal of the library of Sulaymān Jāh is good; it embellishes the book like the design of a basmallah, 1244’).
17 × 37 mm.
2:Seal surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh, of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847) dated 1260 AH (1844–45 CE):
‘ناسخ هر مهر شد چون شد مزین بر کتاب * خاتم امجد علی شاه زمان عالیجناب، ١٢٦٠’
‘Nāsukh har muhur shud chun shud muzayyin bar kitāb; khātim-i Amjad ‘Alī Shāh zamān-i ‘Ālījanāb, 1260’ (‘Every [prior] seal became cancelled since the book became embellished by the seal of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh in the era of his Sublime Majesty, 1260’).
53 × 45 mm.
3: Seal surmounted by the royal emblem Awadh, of Wājid ‘Alī Shāh, King of Awadh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856) dated 1262 AH (1846–47 CE):
‘ خاتم واجد علی سلطان عالم بر کتاب * ثابت و پر نور بادا تا فروغ آفتاب، ١٢۶۲ ’
‘Khātim-i Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān-i ‘Ālam bar kitāb, s̄abit va pur nūr bādā tā farūgh-i āftāb, 1262’ (‘The seal of Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān of the World, upon the book shall be permanent and as bright as sunlight, 1262 AH [1847 CE]’).
41 × 26 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Previously held in the royal library of Awadh in Lucknow, as indicated by library seal impressions on folio 155b of the Kings of Awadh Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837), Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), and Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856), then presumably looted during India's First War of Independence, when British soldiers ransacked the Kaisarbagh palace and library on 15 March 1858 (see Wolseley's Memoir).
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 and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Revised and expanded by James White in 2018 with reference to the volume.
Further amended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the manuscript 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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