Persian MS 733 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
In his handlist, Michael Kerney mistakenly describes this volume as class mark Persian MS 732.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 1 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.
Inscriptions: The right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the titles and author's name and purported date of completion in 1073 AH, probably miscopied from 1083.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘1/I’, and ‘Hamilton MSS No. 650’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘733’ written aside.
Binding
Probably bound in Delhi for former owner Colonel George William Hamilton (1807-1868) between 1862 to 1867
Sewn on two recessed cords laced into pasteboard. Edges trimmed and cloth endbands adhered at head and tail. Covered in half medium-brown hand-boarded goatskin leather, tight-backed and tight-jointed, with red and yellow ochre coloured spot marbled sides, and squares at the edges (Type III binding per Déroche).
Spine bears an octagonal paper label with the title in nasta‘līq script.
214 × 142 × 14 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In sound but fair condition, with extensive external abrasion, interior endpapers stained, and opening to the gutter margins restricted.
An unidentified paper mill or stationer's embossed seal appears in the corners of many folios which bears a salamander at bottom, three fleur de lis in the middle, and the initials ‘C L C’ at top, surmounted by a crown of bricks, with a trident at left and hooked spear at right.
16 × 10 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Hamilton acquired over a thousand Indian and Persian manuscripts which he brought to Britain after he retired. After his death, the British Museum purchased 352 manuscripts 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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