Persian MS 507 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: A second, probably complete volume of ‘Ayn al-Ḥayat (Eye of Life), a major Persian Shi’ite work on theology and ethics by Muhammad Baqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī Majlisī (ca. 1628–1700).

Author: Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī, 1627 or 8-ca. 1699 مجلسى، محمد باقر بن محمد تقى

Title: ʻAyn al-Ḥayāt

Title: عين الحياة

Incipit: (beginnig) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): پرسید که کیست که جفاکار تراست(،) گفت پادشاه ظالم و دلی که در آن رحم نباشدپرسید که چه چیز است که به نهایت نمیرسد، گفت که چشم صاحب حرص که هرگزاز دنیا سیر نمیشود... ،

Explicit: 424b باینجا ختم میکنم کتاب عین ...الحیوة را

Colophon: No colophon

Language(s): Persian

The order of the contents in this volume varies from other volumes. Following the conclusion of Volume I, Volume II opens abruptly. The title appears therein towards the end on 424b. The beginning of the text corresponds to middle of Bāb 2 of Samarah 3 and the first heading on 34a, for Bāb 3 (باب سیوم در بیان معنی دنیاست), corresponds with Cambridge University Library Add. 3153, folio 127a. See Browne catalogue. For printed editions, see Mushār.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: The initial majority of the textblock on folios 1a to 305b comprised of cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivoury-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines. Folios 306a to 424b of straight and cross-grained ivory-coloured externally sized and polished paper, probably also handmade in the Indian subcontinent, with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.

Extent: 424 folios, 2 fly leaves (ff. i + 424 + i).

Dimensions (leaf): 2436 × 146 mm.

Dimensions (written): 184 × 87 mm.

Foliation: Partially foliated in Arabic numerals

Collation

Undertermined. Catchwords present on the lower-left corners of the b sides throughout.

Condition

Handle text with caution. Initial, original portion on folios 1a to 305b in poor condition, with etensive discolouration, insect damage, and historical repairs, while replaced folios 306a to 424b appear in better condition.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 12 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in black nasta‘līq with overlinings in red.

Additions:
Marginalia: notations in the margins in various hands throughout.
Inscriptions the first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the title and name of former owner Colonel George William Hamilton , likely in the bold black nasta‘līq hand of his assistant Muhīn Dās:
‘علم کلام: جلد دویم عین الحیوة تالیف محمد باقر بن محمد تقی: بیان حدیث
كرنل جارج وليم هميلتن صاحب بهادر’
Bookplates: The left doublure: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/G’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 424’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘507’ written aside.

Binding

Probably rebound in Dehli between 1862 to 1867 for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton .

Resewn on a single support, with comparatively heavy stock added as the first and least flyleaves. Edges trimmed and chevron endbands twined in yellow and silk threads over round cores as head and tail. Covered in full maroon goatskin leather over pasteboards, with with internal doublures lined in the same, with squares along the edges, defined joints, but without a flap (type III binding per Déroche).

Boards decorated with green paper blind-stamped onlays featuring scalloped central mandorlas, detached pendants, and corners, with board margins stained dark brown about ~1cm in from the edges, as well as the spine. Spine bears an octagonal paper label with the title of the work written in nasta‘līq.

255 × 161 × 55 mm.

Binding in good condition, with som abrasion to the exterior, whitened salts on the interior resulting from prolonged exposure to moisture, and opening to the gutter margins restricted.

Seal(s):

Folio 305b bears a single rectanglular black seal impression featuring an oval laurel wreath with the name of former owner or associate Mīrzā Āghā Khān, possibly dated 1229 AH (1823–24 CE).
13 × 15 mm.

History

Origin: Possibly completed in the Indian subcontinent; possibly 18th century CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently inspected or owned by one Mīrzā Āghā Khān as per his seal, possibly dated 1229 AH (1823–24 CE), on folio 305b

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 purchased 352 from his widow, 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

E. G. Browne, A Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1896), pp. 64–69, no. XXVI [Cambridge University Library Add. 3153].

H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. 1 (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), cols. 1212–1215, nos. 2221–2225 [British Library IO Islamic 1099, etc.].

K. Mushār, Fihrist-i Kitāb'hā-yi Chāpī-yi Fārsī, Vol. 2 (Tehran: Chāpkhānah-ʼi Urzhang, 1350– SH [1971– CE]), p. 2357.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), pp. 435–438 [British Library Add. 16827, etc].

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. 909–913, nos. 1483–1491 [Bodleian Fraser 175, etc.].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. II, Pt. 3 (London: Luzac & Co., 1977), pp. 355–357, no. 593.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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