Persian MS 463 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
S. H. Qasemi documents 244 manuscripts and printed editions of this work. C. A. Storey also notes various manuscripts and translations into English, German, French, Turkish, and Urdu. For other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 88, Persian MS 199, 919, 991, and 1017. For a glossary of terms found in this work entitled Rang-i Bahār by ‘Abd al-Bāqī, see Persian MS 477.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 20 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.
Decoration
Illumination: Folio 1b bears a hastily-executed scalloped domed headpiece with palmette foliate scrollwork on a gilt ground, with an empty gilt cartouche below, all surounded by a gold margin painted with a floriate vine with red and pink blossoms.
Ruling: Aside from the opening page, ruled in gold outlined with thin black single internal and double external lines, and surrounded by comparatively thick vermilion single lines.
Inscriptions:
- The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the title, date, and author's name in bold nasta'īq script, likely in the hand of Muhīn Dās, an assistant to former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
- Folio 1a bears a pious phrase implying acquisition written underneath an immolated seal impression, unsigned, but probably by a former owner named Ṣaliḥ, as per his legible impression on 1b (no. 1):
‘⟨قی⟩المالک هو البا’ - The final folio , by the colophon, bears an acquisition statement, in the hand of Sayyid ‘Aṭā ‘Alī as per his adjacent seal impression (no. 2), in which he declares that he paid Ḥabīb Punjābī 36 rupees for the volume on 26 May 1841 CE:
‘کتاب هذا از حبیب الله پنجابی بقیمت سی شیش روپیه تاریخ ۲۶، می سنه ۱۸۴۱ عیسوی’
Binding
Probably uniformly rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
Resewn at two unsupported stations. Endpapers of comparatively heavy paper added at the beginning and end, then edges trimmed and twined chevron endbands worked in red and green silk threads at head and tail. Covered in full maroon goatskin leather over pasteboards, with squares at edges and defined external joints but without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Internal doublures lined with the same leather, their excess widths adhered as hinges connecting the textblock to the cover, with strips of paper cut with zig-zags along one edge placed over top to disguise the joins.
The spine bears an octagonal paper label with the title handwritten in nata‘līq script.
236 × 152 × 43 mm.
Handle with caution. Binding in fair but stable condition, with a large loss in the upper headcap, and very tightly bound with opening to the gutter margins restricted.
1: Folio 1a, top-left bears an immolated oval seal impression, but likely the same as two others, one legible, on folio 1b, which bears the name of a former owner Ṣāliḥ, in a single line, double-ruled with a chevron design between, dated 1252 AH (1836–37 CE).
12 × 15 mm.
2: The final folio bears a rectangular seal impression by the colophon, with the name of former owner Sayyid ‘Aṭā ‘Alī, in two stacked lines on a floral scrollwork ground, double-ruled, dated 1253 AH (1837–38 CE).
9 × 10 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Formerly owned by three individuals named Ṣālih, as per his seal impressions on folios 1a–1b, another individual named Ḥabīb Punjābī named in acquisition statement by the third owner, Sayyid ‘Aṭā ‘Alī, as per his seal by the note in the colophon. The Punjabi niṣbah of Ḥabīb suggests that the scribe completed the manuscript in that region.
Subsequently acquired by Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) who served in India from 1823 to 1867, intially in the Punjab where he probably obtained this volume, but then ultimately 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 2023 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.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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