Persian MS 873 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Moreley notes ‘Here should follow the names of Shah Alam's children (sons + daughters).’
Moreley notes ‘Nine distichs precede this commencement in my other ms of this work.’
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 column with 17 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders and markings.
The second right flyleaf b side (f. iia) bears a price of ‘£2 2-’ at top, with a note in Persian describes the volume as anonymous,full of errors, and doubtful quotes, which if corrected, would prove a valuable contribution.
Folio 1a numbered ‘Nº 3’ at top.
Folio 1b bears a note in William Hook Morley's hand: ‘This MS comprises
both volumes of the work. WM’.
Bookplate and label: The final right flyleaf b side (f. iib) bears earlier Lindesiana label ‘Persian MSS No. 79’, with the number crossed out and ‘873’ written aside.
Left doublure: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ without a shelfmark.
Binding
Probably bound in the Indian subcontinent.
Comparatively heavy and rough endpapers added to the beginning and end. Sewn at two stations, unsupported. Edges trimmed, and chevron endbands of yellow and red silk threads twined at head and tail. Covered in full claret-coloured goatskin leather over pasteboards, tight-backed, cut flush with the textblock edges, with defined joints, but without a flap (Type III binding per Deroche). Interior doublures of the same leather, with their excess widths adhered as hinges conneting the texblock to the cover, with wide strips of paper applied over top to disguise the joins.
Board margins blind-tooled with insular dots, with double fillets either side. Spine titled ‘AHWÁL-I
'ALAMGÍR
SÁNÍ’
254 × 166 × 52 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with broken tail cap, and internal break by the first folio.
A fleur de lis crowns and protrudes from the mouth of a cat, encircled by a buckled belt bearing inscribed ‘WILLIAM • H • MORLEY • MIDDLE • TEMPLE’.
40 × 28 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, barrister and Royal Asiatic Society librarian William Hook Morley (1815–1860), acquired the volume from an unidentified source.
After Morley's death, his executors sold his library through the London firm of S. Leigh Sotheby & John Wilkinson on 16 March 1861 (p. 67, lot 1037), but it apparently did not sell. Thereafter, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold the volume, one of nine oriental manuscripts, on behalf of Morley's executors to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) on 17 Jan. 1867 for £1, 5 shillings, for the 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.
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, and B.W. Robinson, Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library: A Descriptive Catalogue (London, 1980).
Subsequently augmented and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2025 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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