Persian MS 579 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Display:

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: An incomplete Dīvān-i Sanāʼī by Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad S̲anaʼī Mashhadī (d. ca. 1587), possibly completed in the 18th to mid-19th century. Originally from Mashhad in Iran, the poet travelled to India where he attained favour under the Mughal ruler Akbar and also critically edited the poems of Abū al-Fayz̤ ibn Mubārak, (d. 1595), pen named Fayz̤ī. This volume contains three sections featuring odes (qaṣā'id), lyric poems (ghazaliyāt), followed by fragments and quatrains (qiṭ‘āt va rubā‘īyāt), but then unfortunately lacks the very end.
Author: S̲anaʼī Mashhadī, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad, d. ca. 1587
ثنائي مشهدی، حسین بن محمد،
S̲anāʼī Mashhadī
Title: Dīvān | Sanāʼī Mashhadī
Title: Dīvān-i S̲anaʼī
Title: دیوان ثنائی
Incipit: (basmalla) :(folio 1b) برگ ۱ر در روش خسن و ناز هست بسی خوش نما * غمزه بطرز ستم عشوه برنگ حفا
Explicit: :(folio 119b) برگ ۱۱۹پ شوقیت بجان رب در دریا را * چو نیست بچشم خاک کسی کسی
Colophon: Colophon missing.
Language(s): Persian

A prior version of this record mistakenly identified the author as Ḥakīm Sanā'ī Ghaznavī; however, Michael Kerney notes the confusion and identifies the correct author in his handlist, p. 201.

1b
Title: Odes (Qaṣā'id)
Title: قصائد
84b
Title: Lyric poems (Ghazaliyāt)
Title: غزلیتات
101b
Title: Fragments and Quatrains (Qiṭ‘āt va Rubā‘īyāt)
Title: قطعات و رباعیات

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Cross-grained, medium-weight buff-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent, with >1mm between laid lines and no discernible chain lines.
Extent: 119 folios, 1 flyleaf (ff. i + 119).
Dimensions (leaf): 249 × 141 mm.
Dimensions (written): 188 × 78 mm.
The above dimensions averaged, due to variant text dimensions and lines per page throughout.
Foliation: Hindu-Arabic numeral on the upper left corners of the a sides in ink.

Collation

Primarily quaternions throughout. 15IV(119-1) Catchwords throughout on the lower left corners of the b sides.

Condition

Hand with caution. In fair condition. Many untrimmed folios with decal edges have leading tears, water damaged at the tail edge, and minimal to moderate insect damage throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 to 2 columns with an average of 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Additions:
Marginalia: Comments written in various hands found in the margins throughout.
Inscriptions: The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears a notation that confungly identifies the volumes as Qaṣā'id-i Ḥakīm S̱anāʼī.
Bookplates: The left Pastedown, ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘1/G’, and ‘Hamilton MSS 496’.

Binding

Probably rebound, possibly in Multan, for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.

Sewn with cotton thread upon a single support of two twined cotton threads, put down under the pastedowns. Twined chevron endbands at head and tail, possibly now-faded green and red silk threads. Tail and fore-edge trimmed and spattered with red earth, with the head edge left untrimmed. Rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style, tight-backed in half medium brown goatskin leather without a flap (type III binding per Déroche) with defined joints, squares along the edges, and headcaps at head and tail.

Sides faced with what appears to be domestically-made decorated paper featuring alternating diagonal stenciled spray-painted blue and pink stripes. Handwritten octagonal paper spine label confusingly identifies the volumes as Qaṣā'id-i Ḥakīm S̱anāʼī.

257 × 153 × 23 mm.

Binding in fair but sound condition. Text block split in several areas; however, the sewing remains intact. Some scuffing on the exterior joints, headcaps, and corners.

History

Origin: Probably completed in the Indian subcontinent; undated, but probably 18th to mid 19th century.

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 collected over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts of which the British Museum 352 after his death, now held in the British Library.

Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) then purchased the remainder 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 and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.

Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2021 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.

Digital Images

Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile).

Bibliography

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

TO TOP

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