Persian MS 820 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For two other copies of this manuscript held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 158 and and 970.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 9 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders by Narāyan Dās Pandit.
Decoration
Ruling: text margins ruled with double red lines surrounded by single blue lines, with occasional horizontal breaks .
Inscriptions: The right pastedown numbered ‘D. F. 113’ and a price of ‘£2.2.’ both pertaining to former owner Duncan Forbes.
The second right flyleaf b side (f. iib), top, bears the date of completion and a subtraction calculation.
A in the margin by the colophon translates it.
The first left flyleaf b side (f. iiib) bears partly-legible Indic sīyāq numerals Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ bookplate with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/F’, and an earlier Lindesiana label ‘Persian MSS No. 26’, with the number crossed out and ‘820’ written aside.
Binding
Probably rebound in London for Duncan Forbes.
Resewn on three recessed cords laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed and spattered medium brown, with cloth headbands adhered at head and tail. Covered in half decorated calfskin leather, with predominantly red-brown shell-patterned marbled paper sides.
Spine panels palleted with double fillet lines, and a titled ‘Kashmir’ on a dark maroon skiver leather label in gold.
264 × 170 × 42 mm.
Handle binding with caution. Boards detached and spine cracked and delaminating. Tight sewing restricts opening to the gutter margins.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, orientalist Duncan Forbes (1798–1868) subsequently obtained from an unidentified source. Ultimately appointed King's College Professor of Oriental Languages, he described this volume in his 1866 catalogue, no. 205, valued at £3 3s (also inscribed on the right pastedown), before he sold his manuscript collection to his publisher W. H. Allen & Co. in exchange for an annuity.
Subsequently sold by W. H. Allen & Co. to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866 for his Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
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.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2024 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
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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