Persian MS 477 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
میرزا احمد جان
The only other documented copy of this work appears in ‘Ārif Nawshāhī's catalogue, held in Karachi, Hamdard University MS D4-11, completed on 19 Ramaz̤ān 1253 AH (17 Dec. 1837). For copies of the Bahār-i Dānish held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 88, 199, 463, 919, 991, and 1017.
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 red subheaders.
A second hand completed the unidentified prosimetrical text on folios 7a to 7b.
Marginalia: Occasional notes in the margins in red. Inscriptions: The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the title and author's name written in Persian, likely in the hand of Muhīn Dās, and assisant to prior owner prior owner Colonel George William Hamilton:
‘فرهنگ بهار دانش مسمی برنگ بهار جمع کردهٔعبد الباقی نگاشته سنه ۱۲۳۶ هجری نبوی صـ نعت’
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/F’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 394’ with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘477’ written aside.
Binding
Evidently rebound in Delhi in a hybrid British-Indian style for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton after 1863 when he served there as Commissioner.
Sewn all-along on a single, possibly cord, support, with comparatively thin, ivory-coloured, highly polished wove paper added as endpapers to the beginning and end, the the edges trimmed. Case-bound in full maroon goatskin leather, tight-backed, over pasteboards, with squares along the edges, defined joints, but without a flap (type III binding per Déroche).
Spine and board margins stained dark brown ~15mm in from the edges, with diagonal painted or ruled lines in the same dye, outlined with ruled double yellow lines on either side, along with single interior lines, all in yellow. Boards feature gold-blocked central scalloped mandorlas bearing floriate scrollwork designs, detached pendants with palmette arabesques, and intervening cartouches in the centres, with ten large diamonds on the inner margins, all repeatedly hand-tooled with central rosettes surrounded by repeatedly punched insular dots. The the latter also appears on the surrounding narrow marging Exterior margins. Small octagonal paper spine label bears the title in Persian. Compare with Persian MS 452.
270 × 167 × 15 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with delaminating exterior decoration, broken upper headcap, and boards yawning at the fore-edge. Boxed.
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, Manchester.
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.
Subsequently augmented and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2023 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.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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