Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 515 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: Qiṣṣah-ʼi Chahār Darvīsh (Tale of Four Dervishes) ascribed to poet Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī (ca. 1253–1325).
Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (Folio 1b): بر جمال یا رفعت سی ⟨؟...⟩ و نسیم باغ توکل ماءمور بار قل همه خارند اوست کل همه جزوند اوست کل او شفاعت کنده سری پل محمد المصطفی بلند ... لا(؟) رویان اخبار نقلان آثار و طوطیان شکر شکن شیرین ...
Explicit: ...در وجود امر ۱۵ است فرمود شاه اورنده مرده را به خلوت انجام سرافراز نمود
Colophon: تم تم تم تمت تمام شد مرقوم ببلده لکهنو جلوس احمد شاه در سنه ۴
Colophon: Completed in Lucknow in the ‘4th regnal year of the Mughal ruler Aḥmad Shāh (1725–75, r. 1748–54)’, hence 1165–66 AH (1752–53 CE).
Language(s): Persian

For another copy of this work, see Persian MS 994.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Textblock of cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivoury-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~9 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines. Some replaced folios of slightly lighter weight paper added when restored.
Dimensions (leaf): 235 × 142 mm.
Dimensions (written): 188 × 98 cm.
Foliation: Unfoliated.

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Text in fair but stable condition, with extensive insect damage and historical repairs along the edges throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 16 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in at least two hands in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Additions:
Inscriptions: Folio 1a bears an inspection notice signed by Muḥammad Bayg dated 1231 AH.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 327’.

Binding

Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan between 1858 and 1861 for former owner George William Hamilton.

Resewn at three stations unsupported. Flyleaves of of comparatively heavy, uneven cross-grained paper added at the beginning and end. Edges trimmed with chevron endbands twined in red and green silk threads over round cores at head and tail. Covered in full maroon-coloured goatskin leather over pasteboards, with squares along the edges, defined joints, and without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Internal doublures of the same leather, with the excess widths adhered as hinges on the first and last flyleaves to connect the text to the covers, with strips of paper applied over top to disguise the joins.

255 × 157 × 34 mm.

Binding in good condition, with opening to the gutter margins restricted.

Seal(s):
The first and last folios of the volume, folios 1a and the final folio b side bear two types of rectangular vermilion library seal impressions, intaglio-carved in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines, of the kings of Awadh (Oude)

1: A library seal impression of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837) dated 1244 AH (1828–29 CE), inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh within two stacked, single-ruled cartouches:
‘ 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: A library seal impression surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), with beaded ruling and 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.

History

Origin: Completed in Lucknow; 4th regnal year of Aḥmad Shāh, 1165–66 AH (1752–53 CE).

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) and Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), 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, 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

    A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 17, no. 2516 [Bodleian. Ms. Ind. Inst. Persian 92].
    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. 505–506, nos. 739–742 [British Library, IO Islamic 3480, &c.].
    Charles Rathbone Low, A Memoir of Lieutenant-General Sir Garnet J. Wolseley (London: R. Bentley, 1878), pp. 168–169.
    C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum1881), p. 762 [British Library Add. 8917, &c.].
    E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 423–424, no. 443 [Bodleian MS Ouseley 221].
    C. A. Storey [Online] (2021), Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. III, Pt. 3 Tales no. 809 (200).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute


Comments

Comment on this record

Please fill out your details.

How are we using your feedback? See our privacy policy.

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.

TO TOP