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Persian MS 745 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Two unrelated Persian texts on hunting and jewels completed in Nagina, Bijnor District, in Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1134 AH (Sept. 1722 CE).

Summary of Contents: This manuscript of the Risālah dar Ṣaydīyah, a treatise on hunting and hunting-animals, contains an alphabetically arranged section on the legality of eating certain animals according to the Shāfiʿī legal school. A second unrelated text follows, entitled Risālah dar Ḥāl-i Javāhirāt va Ta's̲īrāt-i Ānhā (Treatise on the Condition of Jewels and Their Effects), on the properties of precious stones, in twelve chapters. An anonymous Mughal-era scribe completed both texts in Nagina, Bijnor District, in the Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1134 AH (Sept. 1722 CE) during the 5th year of the reign of the Emperor Muḥammad Shāh (r. 1719–1748).

1. folios 1b–56b

Author: Anonymous

Title: Treatise on Hunting

Title: Risālah dar Ṣaydīyah

Title: رساله در صیدیه

Incipit: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): بهترین طایر ما فال مبارک بال که طیران کند در هوای ابتدای رمز دلی بال حمد خداوندیست

Explicit: برگ ۵۶پ (folio 56b): موی زیادتی که در پلک چشم شده باشد بر کنند و خون موی زیادتی بر نیاید.

Colophon: برگ ۵۶پ (folio 56b): تمت الرساله الشریفه بعد بعون الله من هو ناصر و معین والحمد الیه وحده العزیز و صلی الله علی محمد و آلیه اجمعین بتاریخ یازدهم شهر ذی الحجه سنه ۱۱۳۴ موافق سنه پنج محمد شاهی روز یکشنبه در قصب نگینه تحریر یافت.

Colophon: Colophons on folio 56b 11 Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1134 AH (22 Sept. 1722)

Language(s): Persian

2. folios 57a–69a

Author: Anonymous

Title: Treatise on Precious Stones

Title: Risālah dar Ḥāl-i Javāhirāt va Ta's̲īrāt-i Ānhā

Title: رساله در جواهرات و تاثیرات آنها

Incipit: برگ ۵۷ر (folio 57a): آما بعد این رساله ایست در بیان معرفت جوهر که بادشاهان این کتاب در خزانهٔ خود نگاه میداشتند.

Explicit: برگ ۶۹ر (folio 69a): بدین طریق که مذکورش عمل کند این بود حاصیت جو.

Colophon: برگ ۶۹ر (folio 69a): تمت الرساله الشریفه بعد بعون الله من هو ناصر و معین والحمد الیه وحده العزیز و صلی الله علی محمد و آلیه اجمعین بتاریخ یازدهم شهر ذی الحجه سنه ۱۱۳۴ موافق سنه پنج محمد شاهی روز یکشنبه در قصب نگینه تحریر یافت.

Colophon: Completed in Nagina, Bijnor District on 11 Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1134 AH (22 Sept. 1722), ‘in the 5th year of the reign Muḥammad Shāh’.

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Lightly sized and polished light brown coloured handmade paper likely manufactured in the Indian subcontinent, with >1mm between laid lines and occasional discernible chain lines. Extensive repairs with an orange-umber paper.

Extent: 69 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 69 + i ).

Dimensions (leaf): 205 × 150 mm.

Dimensions (written): 170 × 87 mm.

Foliation: Modern pencilled Arabic folio numerals written on the upper left corners of the a sides.

Collation

8IV(64)1II+1(69). Primarily quaternions throughout. Occasional catchwords on the lower left corners of the b sides but many are covered by repairs.

Condition

Fair condition. Handle with care. Extensive water and insect damage with historical repairs throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 15 lines per page

Hand(s)

Legible nasta’liq script with shikastah ligatures in black ink. Rubrication in red.

Additions:
Table of Contents: Folio1a features a list of animals featured in the manuscript, written in nasta‘līq script.
Inscription: The right flyleaf a side bears the Persian titles and name of former owner Colonel George William Hamilton in bold black nasta‘līq, likely in the hand of his assistant Muhīn Dās.
Bookplates: The left paste-down, ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘1/I’, and ‘Hamilton MSS 662’.

Binding

Probably rebound in a hydrid British-Indian style in Multan for former owner George William Hamilton.

Resewn on a single flat support, without endbands. Covered in full red goatskin leather over pasteboards, without a flap (type III per Déroche), with squares at the edges and defined joints. Endpapers added of coarse handmade paper added when restored.

Boards ruled along the perimeters in yellow with a double line and with a single line for the inner margins. Title written in Persian on an octagonal paper label adhered to the spine.

215 × 156 × 22 mm.

Binding in good condition.

History

Origin: Completed in Nagina, Bijnor District, India; 11 Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1134 AH (22 September 1722 CE), in the 5th year of the reign of the Mughal ruler of Delhi, Muḥammad Shāh.

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 that after his death the British Museum selected 352 now held in the British Library.

In 1868, Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) purchased the remainder.

Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).

Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands 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 and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.

Manuscript description by James White in 2017 with reference to the volume.

Further amended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2021.

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.

Digital Images

Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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