Persian MS 705 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

A collection of three works: two in Arabic on language and arithmetic, and a third in Persian on geometry.

Summary of Contents: This volume contains three works. The first one in Arabic, entitled Risālah al-Kāfī fī ʿIlmay al-ʿArūḍ wa-al-Qawāfī (The Complete Treatise on the Science of Metre and Rhyme), presents a brief Arabic treatise the principles of metre and rhyme by Aḥmad ibn ʻAbbād Khawwāṣ (ca. 1378–1454). The second Arabic text entitled Khulaṣāt al-Ḥisāb (Summary of Accounting) by Bahāʾ al-Dīn ʻĀmilī (1547–1621) relates concise work on mathematics and astronmy, which is followed by Luṭf Allāh Muhandis' translation into Persian, Muntakhab Khulaṣāt al-Ḥisāb (Selection of the Summary of Accounting) which he completed at the behest of Mīr Muḥammad Saʿīd bin Muḥammad Yaḥyā, in 1092 AH (1681 CE) according to a chronogram in the title.

Author: Khawwāṣ, Aḥmad ibn ʻAbbād, ca. 1378–1454 العبيدي، عبيد الله بن عبد الكافي

Title: Risālah al-Kāfī fī ʿIlmay al-ʿArūḍ wa-al-Qawāfī

Title: Risālah al-Kāfī fī al-ʻArūḍ

Title: رسالة الكافي في علمي العروض والقوافي

Incipit: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): الحمد لله على الانعام والشكر له على الالهام والصلاة والسلام على خير الانام واله [اهله] وصحبه السادة الاعلام وبعد فهذا تاليف الكافى فى علمى العروص والقوافى والله الموفق وهو الهادي...

Explicit: برگ ۶پ (folio 6b): قال مولفه رحمة الله تعال هذا اخر ما اوردنا حمعه ولله الحمد اولا واخرا سرا و علانیة.

Colophon: برگ ۶پ (folio 6b): وصلي الله علی سیدنا محمد واله وصحبه وسلم تسلیماً کثیراً دایماً ابد ابد وام ملك الله نهایة ماینبغي أن سیالة السائلون کلماً ذکره ذاکرون وغفله عن ذکره غافلون والحمد لله رب العالمین.

Colophon: Uninformative colophon.

Language(s): Arabic

A prior record mistakenly conflated this work with another by ʻUbayd Allāh ibn ʻAbd al-Kāfī ʻUbaydī, 14th cent.. For another copy of this work held in the Rylands, completed on 24 Rajab 1269 AH (3 May 1853) for Col. George William Hamilton, see Arabic MS 445 (Mingana cat. no. 432).

References

C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur II (Leiden: Brill, 1892–1902), p. 27, Philologie no. 15 .

C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur Supplement II (Leiden: Brill, 1938), Supplement II, 22, no 15.

Author: ʻĀmilī, Bahāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn, 1547-1621 آملى، بهاء الدين محد بن حسين

Title: Khulaṣāt al-Ḥisāb

Title: خلاصه الحساب

Incipit: برگ ۷پ (folio 7b):

Explicit: برگ ۲۷ر (folio 27a):

Colophon: برگ ۲۷ر (folio 27a): تمت هذا الرسالة البارکه المسماة بخلاصة الحساب بتاریخ یازدهم شهر ذالحجة سنه ۱۲۴۸

Colophon: Completed 11 Ẕū-al-Ḥijjah 1248 AH (1 May 1833).

Language(s): Persian

Author: Lutf Allāh;
لطف‌الله

Title: Muntakhab Khulāṣat al-Hisāb

Title: منتخب خلاصة الحساب

Language(s): Persian

References

Marshall, p. 273, no. 977 (iii)

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of cross-grained, externally sized and polished, ivory-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.

Extent: 72 folios, 4 flyleaves (ff. ii + 72 + ii).

Dimensions (leaf): 240 × 156 mm.

Dimensions (written): 175 × 87 mm.

Foliation: Pencilled Arabic numerals added to the upper-left corners of the a sides used for this record, which commence on the second folio hence under by one.

Collation

Primarily quaternions throughout. 1IV-1(7)2IV(22)1II+1(27)2IV(51)2III(63)1IV(71). 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 17 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black naskh for the first work, then nasta‘līq for the second and third, with red subheaders and markings. Due to the matching format and paper appear likely by the same copyist.

Additions:
Bookplates: Left pastedown: Bibliotheca Lindesiana with pencilled shelfmark 1/F, and Hamilton MSS No. 622 with the name and number crossed out and Persian and 705 written aside.

Binding

Probably bound in Indian subcontinent, then later restored for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.

Unsupported sewing at two stations. Edges trimmed, and chevron endbands of yellow and silver threads twined at head and tail.

Spine tooled

246 × 165 × 18 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition.

History

Origin: Probably completed in the Indian subcontinent; second work dated 11 Ẕū-al-Ḥijjah 1248 AH (1 May 1833).

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 acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts, from which the British Museum purchased 352 from his widow, Charlotte Logie Hamilton (1817–1893), 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.

Manuscript description and corrections by Jake Benson in 2024 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

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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