Persian MS 859 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: A Kullīyāt (Complete Works) of Saʻdī

Incipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b):شکر و سپاس معبودی را جلّت قدرته که آفرینندۀ مخلوقات عالمست و روزی‌دهندۀ بنین و بنات آدم. کریمی که خان [خوان] نعمتش بر مطیع و عاصی و دانی و طاهری کشیده و گسترده، ⟨ رحیمی که از ⟩ دیوان رحمتش در گوش جان هر گنهکاری در هر شب تاریک که هر شبا ⟨ دی(؟) ⟩ چند بار این ندا می‌رسد که «هل من تائب هل من سائل هل من مستغفر». بخشایندهٔ که تار عنکبوت را سدّ عصمت دوستان کرد.

Explicit: برگ ۲۳۳ر (folio 233a): کو هیج ذکر من سخن راست بوسم تو كرس راست بدانی * حرم الجلال نباشد که تو شطرنج بدانی.

Colophon: تم الکتاب بعون الملک الوهاب سید علی الجدی الاصفهانی غفر الله ذنوبه ستر عیوبه سنة ۱۰۰ ۲۰ دوازدهم شهر ذی الحجه الحرم وثلاثين وتسعماية

Colophon: Colophon for the restored portion completed by Sayyid ‘Ali al-Jiddī al-Iṣfahānī on 12 Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1120 AH (22 Feb 1709 CE).

Language(s): Persian

For other copies of the Kullīyāt held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 2, 283, 284, 858, 906, 931, and 967.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of medium-weight, straight and cross-grained, externally sized and polished, buff-coloured paper probably handmade in Greater Iran with ~8 laid lines per cm and no discernible chain lines. Folios 3a to 12b, 26, 31 to 36, 45 to 47, 49 to 52, 57, 123 to 134, 163-187, 191-201 replaced with comparatively thin-weight, ivory-coloured paper, possibly also made in Greater Iran.

Extent: 201 folios, 2 flyleaves (ff. ii + 0 + iii).

Dimensions (leaf): 242 × 150 mm.

Dimensions (written): 207 × 115 mm.

Foliation: Modern pencilled Arabic numerals added to the upper-left corners of the a sides.

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

In fair condition, with moderate water and insect damage and historical repairs throughout. fold-outs along the for-egde and folio 153a

Layout

Written in 1 to 2 columns with as many as 34 to 36 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black minute naskh hand with gold chapter headings and red subheaders.

Replacement pages copied in comparatively large and thin combination of black naskh mixed with nasta‘līq ligatures and red subheaders by Sayyid ‘Ali al-Jiddī al-Iṣfahānī.

Additions:
Inscriptions: Many notes in various hands of former owners including Duncan Forbes and Adam Clarke.
Bookplates and labels: Left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘F/5’, and white label bearing an earlier Lindesiana class mark ‘Persian MSS No. 65’, with the number crossed out and ‘859’ written aside. A pasted catalogue entry pertains to the lot in Adam Clarkes Sotheby's sale.

Binding

Probably rebound in London, possibly for former owner Adam Clarke.

British-made wove endpapers stiff-leaved with shell-patterned marbled papers added to the beginning and end. Single flexible resewing on on five raised cords, laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed, spattered medium brown, and front-bead decorative endbands of white and maroon threads sewn at head and tail. Covered in full calfskin leather, tight-backed and tight-jointed.

Boards diced, with thick-and-thin fillet lines along the outer margins, single fillet lines along the edges, and dotted lines on the interior turn-ins, all in gold. Spine paletted with single fillets and rope tools on either sides of the bands in gold, and a central panel designs comprised of scrollwork florets and blind triangular rope designs and dots. Titled ‘KULLEEAT SAADEE’ on a red skiver sheepskin leather label in gold.

252 × 164 × 36 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but sound condition, with missing headcap, abraded tailcaps, board edges, and exterior joints cracked. Extremely tight resewing restricts opening to the gutter margins.

Seal(s):

Two types of black seal impressions, intaglio-carved in nasta‘līq script.

1. 1: A partial scalloped mandorla-shaped seal impression on folio 48a, partially legible, in two stacked lines, double-ruled, may bear the name of a former owner or associate named Muḥammad:
20 × 15 mm.

2. 2: A circular seal impression on folios 48b and 53a, in two stacked lines, double-ruled, Muḥammad:
~19 mm. diam.

History

Origin: Probably completed in Greater Iran; undated, but probably 15th century CE).

Provenance and Acquisition

Previously owned by at least two individuals named Muḥammad and , possibly responsible for the extensive restoration replaced portions of the volume completed by Sayyid ‘Ali al-Jiddī al-Iṣfahānī on 12 Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1120 AH (22 Feb 1709 CE)

While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, Methodist minister Adam Clarke acquired it from an unidenfitied source. After Clarke's death, his son Jospeh Butterworth Bulmer Clarke (d. 1855) inherited the volume and describes its present state in a catalogue published in 1835 (p. 172, no. 136).

Subsequently acquired by bookseller William Baynes and Son who advertise it in their catalogue for £3 3 shillings that same year, with the same entry pasted on the left doublure.

Probably sold by William Baynes and Son to King's College Professor of Oriental Languages Duncan Forbes (1798–1868), who describes the volume in his published catalogue (p. 22, no. 64), 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.

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.

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

[William] Baynes and Son, A List of Manuscripts, English, Irish, French, Icelandic, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Singalese, Pali, and Sanscreet ... Formerly in the Possession of the Late Dr. Adam Clarke ; on Sale at the Affixed Prices, by Baynes and Son. (Leeds: Spink, 1836), p. 16, no. 179.

J. B. B. Clarke, A historical and descriptive catalogue of the European and Asiatic manuscripts in the library of the late Dr. Adam Clarke, F.S.A., M.R.I.A. (London: J. Murrary, 1835), p. 172, no. 136.

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. cols. 655–675, nos. 1117–1130 [British Library IO Islamic 876 &c.].

D. Forbes, Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, Chiefly Persian, Collected Within the Last Five and Thirty years (London: W. H. Allen., 1866), p. 22, no. 64.

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 424, no. 1069(ii).

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. II (London: British Museum1881), pp. 595–605 (esp. p. 596) [British Library BL Add. 24944 &c.].

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. 525–539, nos. 681–691 [Bodleian MS. Ouseley Add 39].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey [Online] 2021), Vol. III, Pt. 3 Tales no. 688 [Gulistān].

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Persian Heritage Foundation

Subjects

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