Persian MS 70 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
طماس سدنم
For other copies of this work, see Rylands Persian MS 20, 79, 127, 267, 963 and 980, as well as the text within the Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) in Persian MS 949. For another manuscript completed by Muḥammad ‘Alī Khvānsar for Sydenham held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 50. For more on Sydenham, see Urban.
Physical Description
43 × 143 mm. .
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 and 2 columns with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in elegant black nasta‘līq with occasional shikastah finials and ligatures by Muḥammad ‘Alī Khvānsar.
Decoration
Headpiece: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece decorated with dotted clusters on an solid gilt ground, with black intermediate margins, above a central cartouche bearing a nasta‘līq basmala.
90 × 88 mm.
Ruling: Central text margins ruled in gold outlined with thin single internal and double external black lines, and surrounded by comparatively bold red and blue single lines. Thin single gilt lines divide the vertical columns and horizontal breaks, outlined by internal and external single black lines, as well as the exterior margins.
Marginalia: Pencilled notes in the margins throughout, possibly in the hand of former owner Sir Gore Ouseley.
Inscriptions:
- The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears ‘Nº 37
Yusef va Zelikha’, consistent with other books formerly owned by Sir Gore Ouseley, together with other bookseller notations. - The second right flyleaf a side (f. iia) signed by Tho: Sydenham together with bookseller notes.
- The second right flyleaf b side (f. iib) bears a pencilled table of contents, possibly in the hand of former owner Nathaniel Bland.
The fourth leftt flyleaf a side (f. iva): ‘Bland MSS No. 292’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘70’ written aside.
Binding
Contemporary binding likely executed in Hyderabad for Thomas Sydenham.
Sewn at two stations, unsupported, with a single comparatively coarse endpaper added at the end, probably probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent. Edges trimmed, spine lined with cloth, and chevron endbands twined in tan and silver threads at at head and tail. Covered in full black goatskin leather over pasteboards, without a flap, with slightly protruding squares at head and tail and defined joints (type III binding per Déroche). Interior doublures lined with maroon goatskin leather, with their excess widths adhered as hinges connecting the boards to the textblock.
Boards decorated with recessed central scalloped mandorlas, detached pendants, and cornerpieces with floratiate scrollwork designs blocked on gold leaf. Central decoration ruled with gold single lines that connect the central decoration and cornerpieces, surrounded by single gold lines on the external margins. Spine subsequently titled ‘YUSUF ZULAIKHA - JAMI’ in gold, the same as Persian MS 79.
Fore-edges painted with a pale, relatively hasty floral scrollwork design in gold wash Boards margins painted with a wide band of black dye, ruled with thick-and-thin double interior and exterior lines in gold, with the interior margin embellished with a palmette and trefoil scrollwork border. Spine subsequently titled ‘YUSUF ZULAIKHA - JAMI’ in gold, the same as Persian MS 79 and 127.
230 × 162 × 31 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In poor condition with spine breaking in the joints, with the front board subsequently repaired with a Japanese paper repair. Some surface abrasion, broken headcaps. Boxed, with remnants.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently acquired, probably in the Indian subcontinent by Sir Gore Ouseley (1770–1844) as per an unsigned numbered inscription on second right flyleaf b side (f. iib), top, which comports with his hand as found in other Rylands volumes.
Probably sold by Ouseley to booksellers Howell and Stewart, whom likely it for sale in their 1827 catalogue, no. 4363, for £2 11 shillings and sixpence.
Purchased from Howell and Stewart by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865) for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead.
After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in June, 1866, paid in two instalments of £450 and £400, and then moved to Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
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.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2023 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.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
The Persian Heritage Foundation
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