Persian MS 778 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 9 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a clear black nasta‘liq hand.
Inscription: The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears the title and name of former owner George William Hamilton written in bold nasta‘liq, likely in the hand of his assistant Muhīn Dās.
Bookplates: The left paste-down: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Hamilton MSS Nº. 695’ with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘778’ written aside.
Binding
Rebound in a hybrid British-Indian style, probably in Multan for former owner George William Hamilton between 1858 and 1863.
Resewn at three stations, possibly over cord supports. Endpapers of comparatively coarse, heavy paper added and the edges trimmed but without endbands. Covered in full, polished dark red goatskin leather, tight-backed, over pasteboards, with squares at the edges and defined joints, but without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Spine sibsequently rebacked in thin goatskin leather.
Board margins ruled with one interior single and two exterior double lines in yellow.
162 × 97 × 13 mm.
Binding in good condition.
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 selected 352, 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.
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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