Persian MS 569 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: The Tuḥfat al-Muʼminīn (Gift of the Believers), a medical anthology by Muḥammad Muʼmin Ḥusaynī (d. 1698) which he dedicated to his patron, the Safavid ruler S̲h̲āh Sulaymān I (b. 1648 r. 1666–1694). The author aims to correct innaccuracies found in the then-prevailing pharmacopoeia at that time, Ik̲h̲tiyārāt-i Badīʿī, and refers to several other medical works to formulate his own. He divides the work into two major divisions: the first entitled Tashkhīṣ consists of five chapters, and the second part, Dastūrāt, contains three further subdivisions. An unidentified scribe completed this volume in 1199 AH (1784–1785 CE), possibly in Awadh.

Author: Ḥusaynī, Muḥammad Muʼmin, d. 1698 Tunukābunī, Muḥammad Muʼmin حسينی، محمد مؤمن بن مير محمد زمان تنكابنی ديلمی

Dedicatee: S̲h̲āh Sulaymān I, b. 1648 r. 1666–1694;
شاه سلیمان اول

Title: Tuḥfat al-muʼminīn

Title: تحفة المؤمنين

Title: Tuḥfat al-mu’minīn

Title: تحفة المؤمنین

Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۳پ (folio 3b): سبحانک اللهم یا قدوس و یا طبیب النفوس اتمم لنا انوار معرفتک و ارزقنا ...

Explicit: برگ ۵۰۸ر (folio 508a): ...از خردن آن طیور هیوش(؟) کردند چون دبق را با عسل دو و ساب طبخ بلنیع داده مانند رلیمان براستجار و غیر آن گذارند طیوری که نران نشبند(؟) بست کردند و الله تعالی اعلم بخواص الا دویه

Colophon: برگ ۵۰۸ر (folio 508a): تم تم تمامشد معالجات و دستورات المعطرات، تشخیصات تحفة المومنین بعون الله تعالی و حسن توفیق را نیاز(؟) سنه ۱۱۹۹

Colophon: Completed 1199 AH (1784–1785 CE).

Language(s): Persian

For three other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 77, 959, and 966. For a description of 238 other manuscripts of this work, see FANKHĀ.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of medium-weight, straight and cross-grained, externally sized and polished, butter-coloured paper probably handmade in the Awadh with ~9 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.

Extent: 511 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 511 + i).

Dimensions (leaf): 260 × 150 mm.

Dimensions (written): 202 × 102 mm.

Foliation: Incomplete inked Hindu-Arabic numerals added to the upper-left corners of the a sides on the first two hundred folios only.

Foliation: Modern pencilled Arabic numerals added to the upper-left corners of the a sides, inclusive of the original endpapers, referenced for this record

Collation

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

Condition

In fair condition, with moderate water and insect damage and historical repairs throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 23 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders and markings.

Decoration

Ruling: Margins ruled in yellow outlined with thin internal single red and external double black lines, surrounded by another comparatively thick dark blue single line, the last repeated again on the outer margins.

Additions:
Marginalia: Notes in various hands throughout. Bookplates: Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘1/F’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 486’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘569’ written aside.

Binding

Possibly originally bound in Awadh, due to the similarity of the combed patterned bindings closely comparing with those acquired there by Antoine Polier and others.

Likely unsupported sewing, subsequently resewn at five stations. Neither evidence of recent trimming nor endbands. The edges of the pasteboards partially hemmed in brown goatskin leather faced with vivid combed marbled paper, with the spine and part of the head edge later replaced. Internal pastedowns of the same marbled paper as used on the exterior, with hinges of later British-made 'Spanish' wave-patterned marbled paper, and a later cream-coloured machine-made European mould-made flyleaves, added when rebacked.

262 × 157 × 65 mm.

Binding in fair but stable condition.

Seal(s):

Folios 3a, 508a, and 508b bear four types of rectangular black seal impressions intaglio carved in nasta‘līq script:

1: double-ruled, Muḥammad Ḥusayn ‘Alī Khān 1227
13 × 13 mm.

2: double-ruled, Iḥsan Muḥammad ‘Alī Khān(?)
11 × 13 mm.

3: double-ruled, Muḥammad Ḥusayn Khān(?) 1192
11 × 13 mm.

4: Illegible, single-ruled
11 × 14 mm.

History

Origin: Possibly completed in Awadh; 1199 AH (1784–1785 CE).

Provenance and Acquisition

Previously owned by at least four individuals as indicated by their seal impressions.

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

M. Dirāyatī and M. Dirāyatī, Fihristgān: Nuskhahʹhā-yi Khaṭṭī-i Īrān (FANKHĀ) (Union Manuscript Catalogue of Iran), Vol. 7 (Tehran: Sāzmān-i Asnād va Kitābkhānah-i Millī-i Jumhūrī-i Islāmī-i Īrān, 1391 SH [2012–13 CE]), pp. 379–387 [Yazd, Ṣudūqī Yazdī no. 164 &c.].

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. 1271–1273, nos. 2328–2335 [British Library, IO Islamic 337, 636, 1416, 1524, 2226, 2246, 2696, &c.].

K. Mushār, Fihrist-i Kitāb'hā-yi Chāpī-yi Fārsī, Vol. 1 (Tehran: Chāpkhānah-ʼi Urzhang, 1350– SH [1971– CE]), p. 1202.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum, 1881), pp.476-467 [British Library Add 23557].

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. 966–968, nos. 1605–1608 [Bodleian Ouseley 378 &c.].

C. A. Storey [Online] (2021), Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2 Pt. 5.1 Medicine no. 448.

Tawfīq Subḥānī, 'Kitāb'hā-yi khaṭṭī-i Fārsī fihrist nashudah dar Kitābkhānah Jān Rāylāndz, Manchistir' Majallah-'i Dānishkadah-i Adabiyāt va ‘Ulūm-i Insānī n.s., Vol. 1, Nos. 2-3 (1372 SH [1993 CE]): pp. 175, 178, nos. 18, 26 [Rylands Persian MS 959 and 966].

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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