Persian MS 889 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
A prior version of this record misattributed this work to Kosovar author Prizrenli Şemi Şemullah (d. ca. 1530.); however, a later commentator who adopted the same penname actually composed it (see de Bruijn, Öztürk, and Keyik). For other copies of the Pandnāmah without commentaries held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 241/3, 541, 895A and Gaster MS 1500B.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 1 to 2 columns with 21 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear, minute black naskh (nesih) with red subheaders.
Inscriptions:
- The first right flyleaf b side (f. ib) bears a pious Arabic phrase in rıḳʿa and an Arabic religious text in thirteen lines of rounded thuluth script written in sepia.
- Folio 1a bears Turkish and Persian poetry (with abjad numbers), pious phrases in Arabic, and a list of alms with amounts in dirhams to be spent in memory of six shaykhs.
- Folio 67b features an prayer in Arabic alongside the colophon, and what may be a Sufi vaẓīfah (Turkish: vezife) at top, indicating recitation of three istighfār (repentance) and the Divine name al-Jalīl (the Glorious) a thousand times.
Binding
Rebound in the Ottoman empire in the 18th century CE.
Sewn at two stations in yellow silk thread. Edges trimmed with twined chevron endbands at head and tail. Covered in full red goatskin leather, without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Internal pastedowns and flyleaves of 18th-century style Ottoman marbled papers (Persian abrī, Ottoman: ebrī, 'clouded') feature large indigo craquelure (Turkish: ḳumlū, 'sandy') spots over a spattered ground of dark indigo and ochre.
Subsequently rebacked in goatskin leather and the internal hinges replaced with the same, probably in the 20th century CE
192 × 129 × 18 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair condition, with abrasion to the exterior. Stiff opening due to restoration. Boxed.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently obtained by Frederick Ayrton (1812–1873), who first served in the military in India, then as a civil engineer in Egypt, where he ultimately became Secretary to the Khedive ‘Abbas Pasha and later a British consular officer.
After Ayrton's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) obtained and then sold his oriental manuscripts for £150 to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1874 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, 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 derived from Jan Schmidt, A Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the John Rylands University Library at Manchester, 2011 by Jake Benson in 2022 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.
Digital Images
Manchester Digital Collections (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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