Persian MS 872 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: This manuscript, entitled Akhbar'nāmah-'i ‘Avvām (Yearly Reports) relates events over six months in North West India and the Punjab, then administered by the Bengal Presidency, between 28 March to 7 September 1820. Completed for Munshī Ghulām Ḥussain Khān for one ‘Colonel Dare’, most probably Hastings Dare (1775–1836), godson to Governor-General Warren Hastings (1732–1818).

Author, Scribe and Autographer: Ghulām Ḥusayn Khān;
غلام حسين خان

Patron: Dare, Hastings, 1775–1836;
کرنیل ڈیر

Title: Akhbār'nāmah-'i ‘Avvām

Title: اخبارنامهٔ عوام

Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱ر (folio 1a): بجناب معلی القاب اسکندر شان دارا زمان کرنیل ڈیر صاحب بهادر دام اقباله فدوی منشی علام حسین خان بعد از آدای آداب و تسلیمات و کورنشات بجا آورده معروض میرساند. اخبارنامهٔ عوام بتاریخ سی ۳۰ ماه مارچ سنه ۱۸۲۰ عیسوی مسموعه یافته شده که فتح سنگہ آلود الیه و دیوان رام ریال پسر موتی رام از مہاراجہ صاحب مرخص شده بود بضلع در بند متصل آن قلعه گُند که بر کوه است...

Explicit: برگ ۱۳۲ر (folio 132a): مبلغ یکصد روپیه بابت کیرک گرقت بمشاراً الیه دیروز بسمت مانلیر (؟) کتاه روانه شده‌اند متعاقب هرچه رویداد تازه دریافته شود باز بخدمت فیض مآب معروض داشته می‌شود آفتاب اقبال و دولت و حشمت تابان و درخشان باد.

Colophon: No colophon

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of medium-weight, straight-grained, evenly formed, highly flocked, lightly externally sized and polished, straw-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~15 laid lines per 20 mm, no discernible chain lines, and average thickness of 119 microns taken from the first ten folios.

Extent: 132 folios, 4 flyleaves (ff. i + 132 + iii)

Dimensions (leaf): 242 × 145 × 0.119 mm.

Dimensions (written): 206 × 110 mm.

Foliation: Pencilled Arabic numerals inconsitently added to the upper-left corners of the a sides every ten folios.

Collation

Quaternions throughout 17IV(right pastedown) Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.

Condition

In fair but stable condition, with moderate water stains at the tail edge.

Layout

Written in 1 column with 13 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red markings by Ghulām Ḥusayn Khān.

Additions: Bookplate and label: The left pastedown bears an earlier Lindesiana label ‘Persian MSS No. 78’, with the number crossed out and ‘872’ written aside.
: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ without a shelfmark.

Binding

Possibly bound in a British-style binding in Calcutta (Kolkata) for patron Hastings Dare.

Sewn on three raised cords, laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed, finely spattered blue, then front-bead decorative endbands of yellow and red threads sewn at head and tail. Covered in full sheepskin leather, with squares along the edges and defined joints.

Boards spattered with dark brown dye. Spine bands tooled with double fillet lines. Dark red leather spine label titled in Persian.

252 × 137 × 34 mm.

‌B‌inding in fair but stable condition with torn headcap and abrasion along the edges and joints.

History

Origin: Completed by Ghulām Ḥusayn Khān for ‘Colonel Dare’, most probably Hastings Dare (1775–1836) in the Bengal Presidency between 28 March to 7 September 1820 CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

Probably brought by Dare to Britain after he concluded his service. After his death at South Wraxhall House, Wiltshire, likely sold by his survivors after his death.

Subsequently acquired by London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) from an unidentified source, who then advertised it in his Nov-Dec. 1869 catalogue, no. 2085, for ten shillings and sixpence, then sold to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) for the Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.

Subsequently 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.

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 2025 with reference to the volume 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

B. Quaritch Catalogue of Works on the Fine Arts, Painting, Sculpture, the Picture Galleries, Early Woodcut Books... (London, G. Norman & Sons, Printers, Maiden Lane, Covent Gardens, Nov.–Dec. 1869), p. 880, no. 2085

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

Subjects

India--History--19th century

Comments

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