Persian MS 753 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
A prior record by Reza Navabpour mistakenly conflates the compiler of the work, Aḥmad Khayrābādī, with the unidentified scribe, and the date for completion of the work in 1230 AH (1815 CE) as that for this manuscript. Micheal Kerney also misinterprets the date for this manuscript's completion as 1080 AH (1669 CE) as that of this manuscript. Storey suggests that this work may be the same as another bearing the same title ascribed to ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin Walī Allāh Dihlawī (d. 1824); however, it is not. No other copy of this work appears thus far recorded.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 15 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Clearly written in a mixture of black nasta‘līq with red subheaders, with Arabic quotations in black naskh.
Title Page: the second right flyleaf a side (f. iia) opens the volume with a description of the work:
‘سوآلات منشی [مرزجان منشی] مع جوابات مولانا مولوی شاه عبدالعزیز منقول از صفحات پارینه [؟] ...جمادی الثانیه سنه ۱۲۳۰ هجری بدست و خامه ضراعت عنایت احمد خیرآبادی تحریر یافت ’
Marginalia: Comments and corrections written in the margins.
Inscription: the first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the name of former owner Colonel George William Hamilton, probably in the hand of his assistant Muhīn Dās.
Bookplates: Left doublure: Bibliotheca Lindesiana with pencilled shelfmark 1/K, and Hamilton MSS No. 670, with the name and number crossed out and Persian and 753 written aside.
Binding
Bound in Shāhjahānābād (Dehli) for George William Hamilton.
Unsupported sewing at 4 stations. Endpapers of comparatively heavy, unevenly formed, unpolished paper handmade and very thin ivory-coloured British-made wove paper added at beginning and end. Covered in semi-limp full red-brown goatskin leather, cut flush at the edges, but without a flap (Type II binding per Déroche).
Exterior and interior board margins double-ruled in yellow. An octagonal paper label adhered to the right board exterior bears the title in black nasta‘līq.
173 × 90 × 8 mm.
Binding in fair but stable condition, with the edges abraded, the lower-left corner of the right board cracked, and extensive salts (spew) on the exterior due to prolonged exposure to moisture.
Embossed seal on the lower-right corners in the gutters of all folios, bears the figure of a hound with the initials ‘RF’ on either in a serif font at top and again below as an elaborate calligraphic monongram.
18 × 14 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Colonel George William Hamilton 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.
Subsequently augmented and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2023 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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