Persian MS 799 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
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.
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
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
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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