Persian MS 829 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: Historian Sharaf al-Dīn ʻAlī Yazdī (d. 1454) completed his Ẓafarnāmah (Book of Victory) in 828 AH (1424–1425 CE) for the Timurid prince and bibliophile, Ibrāhīm Sulṭān b. Shāh Rukh (1394–1435). He chronicles the life and exploits of his patron's chronicle the life and exploits of his patron's father Shāh Rukh Mīrzā (b. 1337, r. 1405–1447) and grandfather Tīmūr (b. 1336, r. 1370–1405), founder of the Timurid dynasty (1370–1507). A scribe named Muḥammad bin ‘Alī bin ‘Alā' al-Dīn bin Tāj al-Dīn Astarābādī finished this manuscript, in 18 Jumdādà II 907 AH (8 Jan. 1502 Julian)—just over fifty years after the author's death—contains a significant early redaction with variant words. However, it regrettably since lost one folio.

Author: Sharaf al-Dīn ʻAlī Yazdī, d. 1454 شرف الدين على يزدى

Scribe: Muḥammad bin ‘Alī bin ‘Alā' al-Dīn bin Tāj al-Dīn Astarābādī;
محمد بن علی بن علاء الدین بن تاج الدین استربادی

Title: Ẓafarnāmah

Title: ظفرنامه

Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): حمد اكثيرا مبادكا لمن يؤني من يشاء وتنزع الملك مم تشاع وصلوة طيبة دائمة على خاتم الانبياء وسيد الاولياء محمد واله الاصفياء واصحابه النجباء وعمرته البررة والاتقياء.

Incipit: (beginning) بنام خدای که از نام اوست * که مارا توانائی و گفت و گوست |‌ خداوند کل آشکار و نهان *‌ نهان آشکارا بنزدش عیان | طرازنده پیکر آفتاب * نگارندهٔ نقش ما را بر آب | خدایی که هستی مر او را سزاست * بجز هستی او فنا در فناست | جهان می‌نماید که هست ارچه نیست * بجز ظل هسنی حق آن یکیست

Explicit: برگ ۳۴۸ر (folio 348a): خلايق حرفه از احسان او * زمین و زمان تحت فرمان او. الحمد لله تم بالخیر و من الله التوفیق.

Colophon: برگ ۳۴۸پ (folio 348b): تمت والخير من الله عمت في يوم الثلثاء ثامن عشر شهر جمادي الثاني سنه سبع نسع مائية على يد الضعيف اقل عباد الله شمال محمد بن علی بن علاء الدین بن تاج الدین اللهم اغفرهم واحشرهم مع ابنيي والصديقين والشهداء و الصالحين وصلي الله على سيدنا و نبينا محمد و آله اجمعين الطيبين الطاهرين و سلم تتسليما كثيرا كثيرا.

Colophon: Completed by Muḥammad bin ‘Alī bin ‘Alā' al-Dīn bin Tāj al-Dīn Astarābādī on 18 Jumdādà II 907 AH (8 Jan. 1502 Julian)

Language(s): Persian

For other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 166, 167, 226, 372, 828, 830, and 899.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of cross-grained, externally sized and polished, cream-coloured paper possibly handmade in the Mughal Empire with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines.

Extent: 379 pages [190 folios], 2 flyleaves (ff. i + 190 + i).

Dimensions (leaf): 278 × 182 mm.

Dimensions (written): 195 × 118 mm.

Foliation: Foliated in Hindu-Arabic numerals on the upper-left corners of the a sides.

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides, with one folio missing, hence over by one.

Condition

Handle text with caution, in poor condition, with extensive water and insect damage and historical repairs throughout, with the beginning and end remargined.

Layout

Written in 1 to 3 columns with column with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders, and nask for Arabic quotations, by Muḥammad bin ‘Alī bin ‘Alā' al-Dīn bin Tāj al-Dīn Astarābādī.

Decoration

Illumination: Folio 1b bears a damaged and repaired scalloped domed headpiece with gilt palmette floriate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and a Arabic invocation written in naskh script within the central cartouche:‘ باسمه سبحانه تعالى شأنه ’.

Ruling: Text margins, vertical columns, and horizontal text dividers all ruled in gold outlined with thin single black lines throughout. Additional ruling added to the remargins folios.

Additions:
Inscriptions: The right pastedown numbered ‘D. F. 127’ with a price of ‘£4.4-’ both pertaining to former owner Duncan Forbes.
Folios 1a, top and 348b, bottom, signed by former owner John Herbert Harrington (1764–1828), then subsequently crossed out.
Folio 1a bears a description of the volume and author in Persian, along with with a price of ‘20’ [rupees] in an Indic sīyāq numeral underneath.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ bookplate with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/D’, and an earlier Lindesiana label ‘Persian MSS No. 35’, with the number crossed out and ‘829’ written aside.

Binding

Probably restored and rebound in a British-style binding in Calcutta (Kolkata) for former owner John Herbert Harrington.

Resewn on three recessed cords, laced into pasteboards. Endpapers added of ivory coloured laid paper with ~11 per cm and 31 mm between laid lines, bearing a Britannia watermark surmounting a monogram ‘GJ’ and countermarked ‘G. Jones 1807’, manufactured by Griffith Jones (fl. 1796–1811), who then owned and operated Nash Mills in Hemel Hempstead, Dacorum District, Hertfordshire.
156 × 78 mm.
42 × 82 mm.
Edges trimmed, headbands of ivory and copper coloured silk threads sewn at head and tail. Covered in full dark maroon goatksin leather, tight-backed and tight-jointed.

Spine panels palleted with double fillet lines, floral scrollwork vines and diagonal dotted lines on either side, with what may be cornucopia motifs in the centres. Board margins ruled with interior double and exterior triple lines. Spine panels divided with triple fillet lines in gold. Persian lettering inexplicably titled ‘سیور بام(؟)’.

223 × 141 × 26 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with opening to the gutter margins restricted.

History

Origin: Probably completed in the Safavid Empire; 907 AH (1501 Julian).

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently acquired by colonial administrator and judge John Herbert Harrington (1764-1828), probably in Calcutta (Kolkata) from an unidentified source. Translator of theThe Persian and Arabic works of Sa'dee in two volumes at Calcutta between 1791–1795, Harrington's spent most of his life in India, between 1780 to 1828. After he retired, he returned to Britain, probably with this volume, before he passed away, after which his survivors then probably sold it.

Subsequently obtained by orientalist Duncan Forbes (1798–1868) from an unideitified source. Ultimately appointed King's College Professor of Oriental Languages, Forbes described this volume in his 1866 catalogue, valued at £8 8s (also inscribed on the right pastedown), before he sold his manuscript collection to his publisher W. H. Allen & Co. in exchange for an annuity.

Thereafter 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

H. Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office, Vol. I (London: Printed for the India Office by H. Hart, 1903), cols. col. 78, no. 173 [BL IO Islamic 984] [British Library IO Islamic 842(8), 2082, &c.].

D. Forbes, Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, Chiefly Persian, Collected Within the Last Five and Thirty years (London: W. H. Allen., 1866), p. 42, no. 127.

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 441, no. 1681.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p. 173 [British Library Add. 25024].

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. 87, no. 153 [Bodleian MS. Ouseley 263].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 1 Pt. 1 (London: Luzac & Co., 1927), pp. 271, no. 347 and pp. 283–288, no. 356.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

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