Persian MS 732 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Note that in his handlist, Michael Kerney mistook Persian MS 731. For another text on this topic attributed to the same author, see see Persian MS 610.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 11 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a hasty black nasta‘līq hand red subheaders and markings.
Decoration
Three illustrations of horses and an illuminated headpiece.
Illustrations: Folio 6b features a winged horse.
Folio 9b An indigo coloured horse called ‘nīlah-pūz’ (indigo-clothed).
Folio 10a: A gray horse drawn using the same template as the above but flipped over.
Folio 10b: A white horse drawn using the same template as the above.
Illumination: Folio 1b bears a headpiece featuring floral scrollwork blossoms against a gilt ground.
88 × 46 mm.
Inscriptions:
- The right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the title of the work and the name of the author, possibly in the hand of Muhīn Dās, assistant to Colonel George William Hamilton.
- Folio 1a:, top:
- the title in Persian.
- Centre: to the right of seal no. 2:
‘۱۸ ربیع الاول سنه ۱۱۹۷ داخل شد’
‘18 Rabī al-Awwal sana 1198 dākhil shud ’ (‘Entered on 18 Rabī al-Awwal year 1198 AH [10 Feb. 1784 CE]’).
- Underneath the above, to the top-left of seal no. 1:
‘۲ ذی الفعده سنه ۱۲۰۳ داخل شد’
‘2 Ẕī-al-Qa‘dah sanah 1203 dākhil shud’ (‘Entered on 2 Ẕī-al-Qa‘dah year 1203 AH [25 July 1789 CE]’). - Over seal no. 3, states the ms contains 31 folios.
- Bottom-left: underneath seal no. 3:
‘دوازدهم ربیع الاول سنه ۱۲۶۲ هجری کتابخانه رسید،’
‘2 Ẕī-al-Qa‘dah sanah 1203 dākhil shud’ (‘Entered on 2 Ẕī-al-Qa‘dah year 1203 AH [25 July 1789 CE]’). - The phrase dar taḥvīl (in transfer) above the remargined area at bottom that apparently previously bore another seal.
- the title in Persian.
Binding
Probably bound in a hybrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) between 1858 to 1862
Sewn on two stations, unsupported. Endpapers of comparatively rough cross-grained paper added to the beginning and end. Edges trimmed chevron endbands of red and green threads twined at head and tail. Covered in full reddish-brown goatskin leather, tight-backed, with defined joints and squares along the edges (Type III binding per Déroche). Internal doublures of the same leather, with their excess widths adhered to the first and last flyleaves as hinges to connect the cover to the textblock, covered by vertical strips of paper to disguise the joins.
Spine bears an octagonal paper label with the title in nasta‘līq script.
239 × 147 × 15 mm.
Binding in good condition, albeit with opening to the gutter margins restricted.
Folios Folio 1a and 26b impressed with three vermilion library seals of the kings of Awadh (Oude), intaglio-carved in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines.
1: Rectangular seal of the library of Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837) dated 1244 AH (1828–29 CE), within two stacked cartouches, double-ruled, inscribed with his title Sulaymān Jāh:
خوش است مهر کتبخانه سلیمان جاه * بهر کتاب مزین چو نقش بسم الله، ١٢۴۴
Khvush ast muhur-i kitābkhānah-'i Sulaymān Jāh bahr-i kitāb; muzayyin chaw naqsh-i basmallah, 1244 (The seal of the library of Sulaymān Jāh is good; it embellishes the book like the design of a basmallah, 1244).
17 × 37 mm.
2: Rectangular seal surmounted by the royal emblem of Awadh, of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), beaded-ruled and dated 1260 AH (1844–45 CE):
ناسخ هر مهر شد چون شد مزین بر کتاب * خاتم امجد علی شاه زمان عالیجناب، ١٢٦٠
Nāsukh har muhur shud chun shud muzayyin bar kitāb; khātim-i Amjad ‘Alī Shāh zamān-i ‘Ālījanāb, 1260 (Every [prior] seal became cancelled since the book became embellished by the seal of Amjad ‘Alī Shāh in the era of his Sublime Majesty, 1260).
53 × 45 mm.
3: Rectangular seal surmounted by the royal emblem Awadh, of Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (1822–1887), King of Awadh (r. 1847–1856) dated 1262 AH (1846–47 CE):
خاتم واجد علی سلطان عالم بر کتاب * ثابت و پر نور بادا تا فروغ آفتاب، ١٢۶۲
Khātim-i Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān-i ‘Ālam bar kitāb, s̄abit va pur nūr bādā tā farūgh-i āftāb, 1262 (‘The seal of Wājid ‘Alī, Sulṭān of the World, upon the book shall be permanent and as bright as sunlight, 1262 AH [1847 CE]’.
41 × 26 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Previously held in the royal library of Awadh in Lucknow, as indicated by library seal impressions on folio 155b of the Kings of Awadh Nāṣir al-Dīn Ḥaydar Shāh (b. 1803, r. 1827–1837), Amjad ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1801, r. 1842–1847), and Wājid ‘Alī Shāh (b. 1822, r. 1847–1856), then presumably looted during India's First War of Independence, when British soldiers ransacked the Kaisarbagh palace and library on 15 March 1858 (see Wolseley's Memoir).
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 for 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.
Subsequently augmented and enhanced 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
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