Persian MS 899 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: Historian Sharaf al-Dīn ʻAlī Yazdī (d. 1454) completed his Ẓafarnāmah (Book of Victory) in 828 AH (1424–1425 CE) for the Timurid prince and bibliophile, Ibrāhīm Sulṭān b. Shāh Rukh (1394–1435). He chronicles the life and exploits of his patron's chronicle the life and exploits of his patron's father Shāh Rukh Mīrzā (b. 1337, r. 1405–1447) and grandfather Tīmūr (b. 1336, r. 1370–1405), founder of the Timurid dynasty (1370–1507). An unidentified scribe probably completed this manuscript in the Indian subcontinent in the mid-late 18th century CE.

Author: Sharaf al-Dīn ʻAlī Yazdī, d. 1454;
شرف الدين على يزدى

Title: Ẓafarnāmah

Title: ظفرنامه

Rubric: برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): حمد اكثيراٌ مباركاٌ لمن يؤني من يشاء وتنزع الملك مم تشاع وصلوة طيبة دائمة على خاتم الانبياء وسيد الاولياء محمد واله الاصفياء واصحابه النجباء وعمرته البررة والاتقياء.

Incipit: (beginning) بنام خدای که از نام اوست * که مارا توانائی و گفت و گوست |‌ خداوند کل آشکار و نهان *‌ نهان آشکارا بنزدش عیان | طرازنده پیکر آفتاب * نگارندهٔ نقش ما را بر آب | خدایی که هستی مر او را سزاست * بجز هستی او فنا در فناست | جهان می‌نماید که هست ارچه نیست * بجز ظل هسنی حق آن یکیست

Explicit: بآدم نبینا علیه الصلوات و السلام و چون حان نسب عالی که عرض اصلی از وضع این مقدمه بیان آنست بوضع پیوسته هنگام آن آمد که در اصل تاریخ حضرت صاحب قرانی کرده شود.

Colophon: No colophon.

Language(s): Persian

For other copies of this work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 166, 167, 226, 372, 828, 829, and 830.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Textblock of thin-weight, straight-grained, evenly-formed, externally sized and polished, cream-coloured paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~17 laid lines per 20 mm, no discernible chain lines, and average thickness of 64 microns

Extent: 527 folios, 6 flyleaves (ff. iii + 527 + iii).

Dimensions (leaf): 305 × 181 × 0.061 mm.

Dimensions (written): 240 × 123 mm.

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

Collation

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

Condition

Handle text with caution. In fair condition, with extensive insect damage and historical repairs at the head and tail edges throughout.

Layout

Written in 1 to 3 columns with 21 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in somewhat hasty but clear, partly dotted black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.

Decoration

Ruling: Text margins ruled in double red lines surrounded by single blue lines throughout.

Additions: Inscriptions: Folio 1a, top, bears an inscription in Persian stating that it was purchased by Khvajah Sukhan in the month of May for 63 Bengali Rupees, possibly with ‘number 132’ in Indic sīyāq numberals underneath.
An English description at top notes the title and author, accompanied by a pencilled note in another hand.
Signed ‘Wm Oliver 1803’.
Bookplate and label: The left pastedown bears the ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ bookplate with pencilled shelfmark ‘1/C’, with an earlier Lindesiana label ‘Persian MSS No. 105’, with the number crossed out and ‘899’ written aside.

Binding

Possibly rebound for former owner William Oliver after his return to Britain. Subsequently restored with two types of blue paper, one heavy-weight wove, and another mould-made laid stock with Britannia watermarks and countermarked ‘W. Lewis 1850’.

Sewn on four recessed cords laced into pasteboards, then spine lined with segmented linings visible through the paste-downs.. Edges trimmed, and leather endbands adhered at head and tail. Covered in full, artificially embossed straight-grained 'morocco' sheepskin leather.

Spine panels palleted with triple fillet lines, with decortive floral rope tools and dotted scallops on either side, with large fleuron emblems, and titled:
‘ZUFUK
NAMUH’. Boards decorated in a 'Cambridge panel' style with a floral garland roll for the central rectangles, circle and dot rolls on the margins, surrounded by a dotted line and leaf roll, with the same connecting the corners to the interior rectangles.

317 × 196 × 71 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with insect damage on the spine by the head and tail, headcaps cracked, the upper one broken, and abraded edges.

Seal(s):

Three impressions:

1: Folio 1a, centre, bears a black relief-cut Latin script impression of the initials ‘W*O’ of former owner William Oliver, since obliterated.
21.5 × 26 mm.

2: Folio 1a, bottom bears an Anglo-Persian, black octagonal seal impression, intaglio-carved in one nastaliq line, double-ruled, with the name of former owner William Oliver dated 1804, since obliterated:
‘ولیم اولر ۱۸۰۴.’ 21.5 × 26 mm.

3: Folio 1b: A relief-cut stamped impression of former owner ‘Claude Martin’ appears above the header in red.
6 × 57 mm.

History

Origin: Probably completed in the Indian subcontinent; undated, probably mid-18th century CE.

Provenance and Acquisition

Subsequently acquired by one

Formerly owned by Claude Martin (1735–1800) who impressed his stamp on folio 1a.

Subsequently acquired by William Oliver (d. 1847), an employee of the East India Company and Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, as per his inscription and seal impressions on folio 1a. An early graduate of Fort William College, he ultimately served on the Madras Presidency Council Board until his retirement in 1836, then returned to Britain, evidently with this volume. However, the dispersal of his manuscript collection after his death remains unclear.

Purchased by Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) from an unidentified source for £3 16 shillings, as indicated on the final left flyleaf, for his 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 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

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. col. 78, no. 173 [BL IO Islamic 984] [British Library IO Islamic 842(8), 2082, &c.].

D. Forbes, Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, Chiefly Persian, Collected Within the Last Five and Thirty years (London: W. H. Allen., 1866), p. 42, no. 127.

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 441, no. 1681.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p. 173 [British Library Add. 25024].

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. 87, no. 153 [Bodleian MS. Ouseley 263].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. 1 Pt. 1 (London: Luzac & Co., 1927), pp. 271, no. 347 and pp. 283–288, no. 356.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

Subjects

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