Persian MS 845 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 to 2 columns with 14 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq.
Decoration
Headpiece: Opening folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with gilt palmette foliate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and an uninscribed central cartouche, and four vertical radiating lines.
Carpet Pages: Opening folios 1b to 2a extensively illuminated and ruled.
Ruling: Text margins ruled in gold outlined with thin single internal and double external black lines, and surrounded by single red and blue lines.
Inscriptions: The second right flyleaf a side (f. iia) bears the title in below Swinton's seal in his hand, as well as a pencilled note:
‘Sold in Dr. Scott's sale for £3-15’.
Binding
Probably bound in a hybrid British-Indian style in the Indian subcontinent
Sewn at two stations, unsupported. Edges trimmed, and chevron endbands of yellow and black threads twined over round cores at head and tail. Covered in full diced 'Russia' leather over pasteboards. Interiors lined with maroon-coloured goatskin leather, their excess widths adhered as hinged connecting the cover to the text block, with strips of paper zig-zag cut along one edge applied over top to disguise the joins..
275 × 174 × 54 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In poor condition, with the spine delaminating joints breaking, and extensive wear to the edges.
Accompanying Material
Manuscript accompanied by a 19th-century protective slipcase with walls and flap of claret-coloured artificially embossed straight-grained morocco goatskin leather, and the boards faced with medium brown calfskin, with the board margins blind-tooled with triple fillet lines.
275 × 175 × 55 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) acquired the volume sometime before in 1866 from an unidentified source.
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.
Subsequently augmented and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2023 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.
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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