Persian MS 843 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
The incipit of this manuscript slightly differs from other redactions. For discussion of the significance of this redaction in relation to other early manuscripts, and published editions, see de Bruijn, Of Piety and Poetry. For the most recent critical edition of this work based upon this manuscript, see Yāḥaqqī and Zurqānī.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 to 2 columns with 9 to 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Primarily written in black naskh script, with introductory verse markers, chapter headings, and subheaders in gold, the latter two outlined in thin black (tash‘īr), probably all in the hand of Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥabīb ibn Abī Ishaq bin Abī Mas‘ūd.
Decoration
Dedication: Page 1 opens with a prominent, illuminated pointed oval which contains a dedication to Pūlād bin Nūr al-Dīn Jibrā'īl bin Jājā (fl. 13th century).
23.4 × 15.4 mm.
Headers and Footers: Opening pages 2 to 3 bear gilt horiztonal rectangles at top and bottom containing the title and name of the author.
Colophon: Modest decoration surroundings the closing on page 609.
92 × 19 mm.
Ruling: Vertical column dividers, horizontal section breaks, and marginal ruling in double red lines throughout.
Table of Contents:
- The third right flyleaf a side (f. iiia) bears a pencilled list of the ten chapters with Arabic numerals that corresponds to the Hindu-Arabic folio numbers given on the b sides throughout.
- Page 1, top, signed by former owner, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Abū al-Qāsim Shīrāzī adjacent to his seal impression, albeit obscured by subsequent repairs.
- Page 3 signed by former owner Edward Galley, adjacent to his seal impression.
- Following the colophon on page 610, a brief Persian abstract summarily describes the work.
Binding
Rebound in 1873 probably by Stephen Austin & Sons in Hertford, (possibly by a member of the Henington family of bookbinders, whom previously completed fine bindings commissioned by the East India Company), arranged through Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) for Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), along with eight other manuscripts, including Rylands Persian MS 848. This firm previously worked for East India College at Haileybury until it closed in 1858. They employed the same dies on a Prakit grammer held in the British Library, C188a73. Resewn on five recessed cords all-along, then laced into the pasteboards. Edges then trimmed and gilt, with European-style front bead decorative enbands worked in yellow and green silk at head and tail. Recovered in an Islamic-inspired binding in full, pebble-grained maroon morocco goatskin leather, with fore-edge flap (type II binding per Déroche et al), with straight-grained black basil sheepskin leather lining the flap interior and maroon coated paper endpapers.
Exterior gold blocked with central medallions, attached pendants, and corners all featuring intaglio-carved arabesque designs on a gilt ground, joined by a single gilt fillet line, while the board margins bear double fillets. Spine panels, head, and tail paletted with four decorative floriate scrollwork bands, with double fillets either side, and titled ‘HADÍQATU'L-HAQÍKAT. HAKÍM SANÁIÍ. PERSIAN MS. A. H. 681.’.
Interior flap lined with black straight-grained sheepskin basil leather. Interior dentelles of the boards blind tooled with a floriate arabesque decorative roll. Stiff-leaved maroon-coloured coated paper endpapers, with wove flyleaves.
313 × 216 × 62 mm.
Binding in good condition, but with exterior joints, headcaps, and corners scuffed. Migratory stains from an earlier, probably medieval, envelope flap evident on pages 218 and 219. Boxed.
1: Page 1, top-left, bears a partially impressed, partly legible, round seal impression, intaglio-cut in naskh script in two stacked lines in the centre, with an illegible surrounding band, double-ruled, possibly with the name of former owner or associate Muḥmammad ‘Abduh, obscured by a subsequent repair.
2: Pages 1, top, and 609, above the colophon bear rectangular seal impressions, intaglio-cut in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines, double-ruled, with the name of former owner Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Abū al-Qāsim Shīrāzī, possibly dated 1171 AH (1757–58 CE), with others found on pages 13 and 690 above the colophon:
‘محمد باقر ابن ابو القاسم ’
9.5 × 12 mm.
3: Page 3, top, impressed with a rectangular Anglo-Persian seal impression, intaglio-cut in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines, double-ruled, with the name of former owner Edward Galley, intaglio-cut in nasta‘līq script in two stacked lines, double-ruled, and possibly dated 1802:
‘ادورد گلی’
10.5 × 13 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Formerly owned by or associated with one Muḥmammad ‘Abduh as per his seal impression on page 1 and also one Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Abū al-Qāsim Shīrāzī as per his inscription stating that he borrowed the volume together with his seal impressions on pages 1, 13, and 690.
Signed and impressed with the Anglo-Persian seal on page 3 by Edward Galley (ca. 1750–1804), East India Company Resident at Bushire (Bushehr) between 1780 to 1787, where he possibly aquired this volume. Ultimately Lieutentant-Governor of Surat where he passed away, after his death, Galley's family sold a portion of his library in Surat including volumes obtained by David Price (see Robinson, p. 209). However, they evidently returned to Britain and subsequently sold the remainder through the London firm of Samuel Leigh Sotheby on 30 June 1837, lot 225.
Probably acquired at Galley's sale by London bookseller Henry George Bohn (1796–1884), who then offered it for sale in his 1841 catalogue, no. 13631, described as ‘...a very ancient and fine MS. beautifully written in a very bold hand, in the Nisk character, in double columns, on 610 pages of very stout paper, highly glazed. The first three pages are adorned with very curious and early illuminations, native binding, 2£ 12s 6d.’
Possibly purchased from Bohn by orientalist Duncan Forbes (1798–1868), who described the volume in his 1866 catalogue (pp. 11–12, no. 36) valued at £63, 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 and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2022 with reference to the volume, and in consultation with Dr Cailah Jackson, University of Oxford, and Prof Andrew Peacock, University of St Andrews, regarding the dedicatee and also Philippa Marks (Curator of Bookbinding, British Library) and Richard Morel (Curator of Philatelic Collections, British Library) regarding the rebinding of the volume and the Austin and Henington firms.
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.
Custodial History
Exhibited in Gilded Word and Radiant Image, sponsored by the Altajir Trust.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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