Persian MS 800 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column in 15 to 21 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in small, clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red, but in a different hand from Persian MSS 798 and 799, in 21 lines per page
Written in comparatively large, clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in red, in 15 to 18 lines that fill most of the page.
Charts and disagrams written perpendicular to the gutter in a comparatively bold black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures and subheaders in red.
Decoration
Diagrams: Folios 11a to 112a and 314b to 315a bears various diagrams.
Table of Contents: Listed in another hand on folios 1a to 7b.
Inscriptions:
- Folio 1a, above the table of contents, bears an ownership notation inscribed above an oval seal impression, possibly of Rajah Keshav Rao(no. 1):
‘مالک کتاب ملت درگاه’ - Folio 8a bears a price of 30 rupees in Indian sīyāq script below an octagonal seal impression (no. 2).
- Folio 9a lists costs pertaining to the repair and completion the volume: kāghaẕ (paper, presumably used for the added portions), jadval-kashī (ruling, probably here meaning diagrams and charts), jildband (bookbinding) and ajzā' (materials), written above an obliterated seal impression.
- Folios 441b bears a note stating the volume contains 432 folios, and another by former owner Rājah Kīshav Rāo above his seal impression, in which he states that he obtained it in the capital of India:
‘اکبرنامه دفتر سیوم ۳ ملة درگاه کیشوراو کاره در دار الخلافه هند ی گفرت.’
6’ all crossed out and ‘800’ 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’. 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. III.’ all in gold.
345 × 230 × 68 mm.
Handle with caution. Binding in fair condition, with abraded exterior, bumped upper corner and a pronounced vertical crease on the left cover and loose endpapers.
1: Folio 1a, top bears a partially legible seal impression in three stacked lines, single-ruled:
‘راو کیشو راو’ ‘Rāw Kīshav Rāw’
11 × 13 mm.
2: Folio 8a bears an octagonal seal impression:
‘راجه کیشو راو’ ‘Rājah Kīshav Rāw’
15 × 19 mm.
3: Folio 441b bears an octagonal seal impression in two stacked lines, singlee-ruled:
‘راو کیشو راو’ ‘Rāw Kīshav Rāw’
13 × 16 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Formerly owned by Rajah Keshav Rao, possibly a royal messenger to the Maratha Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao (b. 1721, r. 1740–1761), according to his seal impressions and notations on folios 1a, 8a, and 441b which indicate that he acquired the volume in Delhi, possibly from someone who had the volume reapired and completed, as indicated by the note and obliterated oval seal impression on folio 9a.
Subsequently acquired by another unknown, presumably British, former owner who combined it with two other volumes and rebound them as a set. 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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