Persian MS 830 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For other copies of the Ẓafarnāmah held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 166, 167, 226, 372, 828, 829, and 899.
While notations on the endleaves mistakenly identify another work, the Tuzak-i Taymūrī, as present within the volume, it only contains the Ẓafarnāmah. The absence of dots on some letters prompted former owner Duncan Forbes (1798–1868) to claim that this manuscript dates to the author's lifetime; however, Michael Kerney disputes that and attributes it to the sixteenth-century instead.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 to 3 columns with column with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Majority of the text written in a clear black naskh hand with red subheaders and markings from pages 24 to 405.
Pages 406 to 685 written in another clear black naskh hand with red subheaders and markings.
Replaced folios 1 to 23 and 686 to 697 written in third black naskh hand with red subheaders and markings.
Inscriptions: The second right flyleaf b side (f. iib), top, numbered ‘Nº 87’ in Arabic numerals and signed in Persian by former owner Frances Jane Birch, the former stating she purchased it in June 1795. She also likely wrote the adjacent titles Ẓafarnāmah and Tuzak-i Taymūrī in Persian (the latter mistaken), and signed the volume again in Persian on page 1, top.
The third right flyleaf a side (f. iiia) numbered ‘D. F. 99’ and a price of ‘£4.14.6.’ both pertaining to former owner Duncan Forbes. It also bears a pencilled description of the work in another hand, possibly Frances Jane Birch, along with the titles of the Ẓafarnāmah and Tuzak-i Taymūrī written in Persian (the latter mistaken) and numbered ‘(87)’ in Arabic numerals underneath.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ bookplate with pencilled shelfmark ‘1/E’, and an earlier Lindesiana label ‘Persian MSS No. 36’, with the number crossed out and ‘830’ written aside.
Binding
Probably rebound in London for former owner Duncan Forbes (1798–1868).
Resewn on four raised bands, laced into pasteboards. Wove paper added as endpapers at the beginning and end. Edges trimmed but endbands omitted at head and tail. Covered in full dark maroon goatksin leather, tight-backed and tight-jointed.
Spine panels palleted with thick-and-thin fillet lines on either sides of the bands, with floral bouquets in the centres, and title omitted. Board margins tooled with a decorative roll of rope designs in gold, and the edges with an alternating solid and dotted diagonal roll.
259 × 187 × 65 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with extensive wear to the exterior, boards yawning at the fore-edge, abrasion to bands and head and tail caps on the spine, and opening to the gutter margins restricted.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently repaired with the beginning and end replaced by an unidentified scribe in Calcutta (Kolkata) on 27 Ramaẓān 1209 AH (17 Apr. 1795 CE).
Subsequently acquired in June 1795 by Frances Jane Birch, neé Rider (1773–1828), as per her signatures and notes on the second right flyleaf b side (f. iib) on page 1. Born in Chunipore (Chunipur), she married Robert Comyn Birch (1760–1807) in 1789. After his death in Calcutta (Kolkata), she returned to Britain with this volume.
After Birch's death, her survivors sold some of her effects on 29 July, 1828 through the London firm of Edward Forster, possibly lot no. 87 given the presence of that number on the second right flyleaf b side (f. iib) and third right flyleaf a side (f. iiia).
For another manuscript that she owned, see Persian MS 814, and for her biography, see Péri et al, who describe other manuscripts she formerly owned now held in the Bodleian and in Hungary.
Possibly purchased at the Birch sale by Duncan Forbes (1798–1868). Ultimately appointed King's College Professor of Oriental Languages, Forbes later described the volume in his 1866 catalogue, no. 61, valued at £4 14s 6d (also inscribed on the third right flyleaf a side (f. iiia), before he sold his manuscript collection to his publisher W. H. Allen & Co. in exchange for an annuity.
Subsequently sold by that firm 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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