Persian MS 799 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
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Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Summary of Contents: The second volume of the Akbarnāmah va Ā’īn-i Akbarī (Book of Akbar and Akbar's Administration" by Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak (1551–1602), together with the first volume by the same scribe, Persian MS 798, to which a former owner added a third unrelated volume, Persian MS 800, to complete and uniformly rebind them as a set. A Mughal courtier and ultimately Chief Secretary and close confidant of Akbar (b. Akbar, b. 1542, r. 1556–1605), the author relates vivid accounts of events that occurred during his patron's reign, as well as a concluding portion, known as the Ā’īn-i Akbarī (Akbar's Administration) which features an extensive survey regarding various elites, rivals, and cultural figures, regions, faiths, social groups, manufacturers, and products within India at that time. A scribe named Mīr Ḥabīb Allāh valad-i Mīr ‘Ināyat Allāh Astrābādī completed the first and second volumes, presumably in the Indian subcontinent, in 1043 AH (1634 CE).Scribe: Mīr Ḥabīb Allāh valad-i Mīr ‘Ināyat Allāh Astrābādī میر حبیبالله ولد میر عنایتالله استرابادیTitle: Akbarnāmah va Ā’īn-i AkbarīTitle: اکبرنامه و آئین اکبریIncipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): سخن تازه سازم بنام خدای که نامش بمعنی بود زهنمای بنامش توان زیب گفتار داد که ما را از زبان بهر این کار دادنگردد سخن تا گران از سپاس چه وزنش نهد عقل یزدان شناس ولیکن درین دشت محمل فکن برفتند مردان پیامی سخن سخنور که بر آسمان گوش زد.Explicit: برگ ۳۱۶پ (folio 316b): نظام سخن از کلام تو باد * طراز معانی بنام تو باد.Colophon: برگ ۳۱۶پ (folio 316b): تمت بالخیر تحریر فی التاریخ ۱۵ شهر جمید الثانی سنه ۱۰۴۴Colophon: Completed on 15 Jumīd (Jumādá) I 1044 AH (6 Nov. 1634 CE), by Mīr Ḥabīb Allāh valad-i Mīr ‘Ināyat Allāh Astrābādī albeit unsigned.Language(s): PersianPhysical Description
Form: codexSupport: Textblock of domestic, straight-grained, ivory-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with 8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.Extent: 316 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 316 + i).Dimensions (leaf): 287 × 165 mm.Dimensions (written): 223 × 108 mm.Foliation: Modern Arabic numeral pencilled on the upper-left corners of the a sides, which repeat folios 226a and 226Aa, so thereafter over by one.Collation
Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.Condition
In fair condition, with moderate water and insect damage and historical repairs throughout.Layout
Written in 1 column with 23 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red by Mīr Ḥabīb Allāh valad-i Mīr ‘Ināyat Allāh Astrābādī, together with Persian MS 798.
Decoration
Illumination: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with gilt palmette foliate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and an uninscribed central cartouche, subsequently overpainted in black.
Ruling: Margins ruled in gold outlined with thin internal single and external double black lines, and surrounded by another thick dark blue line, with areas repaired.
Additions:
Inscription: Folio 1a ‘Segundo’. Bookplates: Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘1/B’, and earlier class mark ‘Persian 4, 5, 6,
5’ all crossed out and ‘799’ written aside.Binding
Rebound in Europe in the 18th century.
Resewn on four recessed cords laced into pasteboards. Medium-weight, ivory-coloured European laid endpapers added with ~10 laid lines per cm and 26 mm between chain lines, watermarked with a bunch of grapes and ‘P & F’ on the same stock in Persian MS 800. Edges trimmed, stained brown, and decorative front-bead endbands sewn over a single round core in white and yellow silk threads at head and tail, then boards covered in full red goatskin leather.
Board margins decorated with single solid fillet lines and vertical dashed and dotted roll, board edges and headcaps with thick solid and thin dashed diagonal roll, and the spine dived into seven panels palleted with Greek meanders, solid fillet lines, and foliate scrollwork designs, and titled ‘AKBARNAMAH VOL. II.’ all in gold.
297 × 179 × 48 mm.
Handle with caution. Binding in fair condition, with abraded exterior and loose endpapers.
History
Origin: Albeit unsigned, completed by Mīr Ḥabīb Allāh valad-i Mīr ‘Ināyat Allāh Astrābādī in the Indian subcontinent; 15 Jumīd [Jumādá] I 1044 AH (6 Nov. 1634 CE)Provenance and Acquisition
Sold in Oct. 1863 by London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) for £8, 8 shillings (see catalogue, no. 5921).
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.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile).
Bibliography
Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak, The History of Akbar. Translated by W. M. Thackston. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2015–.Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak, and Henry Beveridge. The Akbar Nāma of Abu-L-Fazl. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1897.A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 5 no. 2460 [Bodl Ms. Pers. B. 5].Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office Vol. 1, (London: India Office Library, 1903), col. 107, no. 264 [BL IO Islamic 6].D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 33, no. 99(i).Bernard Quaritch, A Catalogue of Books, Arranged in Classes Comprising All Departments of Literature, Many of Them Rare, Valuable, and Curious, Offered for Sale (London: , Apr. 1864), p. 316, no. 5921.C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p.251 [BL Add. 7652].E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Vol I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 115, no. 213 [Bodl. Ouseley Add. 165].C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. I Pt. 2 (London: Luzac & Co., 1935), p. 549, §709(2).Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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