Persian MS 709 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
See E. B. Knobel's translation for an analysis of this manuscript in comparison to other surviving copies held in Britain.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with prose passages in 21 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red.
Decoration
Ruling: margins ruled with double red lines throughout.
Inscriptions: The first right flyleaf a side (f. iia) bears the title and author of the volume in bold nasta‘līq script, likely in the hand of assistant to former owner Colonel George William Hamilton, Muhīn Dās.
Folio 1a bears the title followed by a price of fifty-five rupees written in Indian sīyāq numerals at top, with a prose passage and an unidentified astrology chart at bottom. Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 626’ with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘709’ written aside.
Binding
Probably rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton.
Resewn at two stations, unsupported. Endpapers of comparatively rough, heavily flocked, cross-grained stock. Edges trimmed and twined chevron endbands worked in red and green silk threads over round cores at head and tail. Covered in full maroon goatskin leather, tight-backed, with squares at the edges, defined joints, but without a flap (type III binding per Déroche). Internal doublures lined with the same leather, with the excess width adhered to the first and last flyleaves, with strips of paper serrated along one edge adhered over top to disguise the overlap.
An octagonal paper spine label bears the title in black nasta‘līq.
307 × 206 × 42 mm.
Binding in good condition, with minor exterior scuffing and white salts, especially on the interior doublures, due to prolonged exposure to moisture.
History
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.
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 2022 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
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