Persian MS 9 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
References
References
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Central text primarily written in four columns column with 22 lines per page. Margins ruled with 42 hemistichs, hence 62 lines per page total. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with subheaders in riqa‘ written in gold for the Shāhnāmah, with red, blue and green, for the Khamsah.
Decoration
Illumination: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with gilt palmette foliate scrollwork on an ultramarine ground and an uninscribed central cartouche, and four vertical radiating lines that commences the introduction.
34 × 106 mm.
Folio 1b, top-left of the other headpiece, bears an trapezoidal headpiece that commences the Makhzan al-Asrār, the first work in the Khamsah.
19 × 33 mm.
Folio 7b, a rectangular headpiece commences the Shāhnāmah.
35 × 105 mm.
Folio 56b, top-left a trapezoidal headpiece commences the romance of Khusraw va Shīrīn, the second work in the Khamsah.
20 × 3p mm.
Folio 219b, top-left, a trapezoidal headpiece commences the romance of Laylī va Majnūn, the third work in the Khamsah.
20 × 37 mm.
Folio 332b, top-left, a trapezoidal headpiece commences the Haft Paykar, the fourth work in the Khamsah.
20 × 34 mm.
Folio 359 a rectangular headpiece commences the reign of Shāh Luhrāsp from the Shāhnāmah.
45 × 106 mm.
Folio 457a, top-left, a trapezoidal headpiece commences the Sharafnāmah, the the first part of the Iskandarnāmah, the fifth work the Khamsah.
20 × 35 mm.
Folio 620b, top-left, a trapezoidal headpiece commences the Khiradnāmah, the second part of the Iskandarnāmah, the fifth work in the Khamsah.
20 × 36 mm.
Ruling: Folios 1b and 2a ruled in gold outlined with thin black lines, and surrounded by another single line. The margins of folios 2b onwards ruled with single lines of ultramarine blue.
Inscriptions: The right pastedown bears booksellers' marks and notes regarding specific passages in the hand of former owner Nathaniel Bland.
The twelfth right flyleaf b side (f. xiib) bears the titles and ‘Nº 97’ prominently written in the centre, unsigned, but in the hand of former owner Sir Gore Ouseley, as identified in another note by Nathaniel Bland at top, and a description of the volume underneath also in the latter's hand.
Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with pencilled shelfmark ‘2/K’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 327’, with the name and number crossed out and ‘Persian’ and ‘123’ written aside.
Binding
Probably rebound in London for former owner Sir Gore Ouseley .
British-made wove endpapers added to the beginning and end, then resewn, abbreviated, on recessed five recessed cords, with three laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed then spattered in russet, with front-bead decorative endbands of blue and white threads sewn at head and tail. Covered in half calfskin leather, hollow-backed, with five false bands on the spine, and boards faced with "shell"-patterned marbled paper.
Spine full gilt, "run-up" back, with double fillets palleted on either side of the bands, and zig-zag darts on top them. Spine panels bear floral scrollwork and palemettes. Black goatskin skiver leather label bears the titles:
‘SHAH NAMEH
KHEMSEH I NIZAMI’
239 × 167 × 78 mm.
Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with extensive abrasion to the exterior and board edges, bumped corners, and cracked joints. Some endpapers appear torn out from the front of the volume. Boxed.
Folio 701a bears a black oval seal impression, intaglio-carved in one line of decorative combination of angular and curvelinear naskh, bears the name of a former owner or associate named ‘Alī bin al-Ḥusayn
14 × 17 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Subsequently owned or inspected by a person named ‘Alī bin al-Ḥusayn as per his seal impression on folio 701a.
Part of the collection of Persian manuscripts formed by Sir Gore Ouseley (1770-1844), who probably acquired the volume during his tenure as British emissary to the Qajar court in 1810 to 1814, given the replaced final folio on modern wove paper, consistent with other volumes completed for Ouseley at that time (e.g. Persian MS 807 and 808), then rebound in London after his return.
Apparently sold by Ouseley in the late 1820s to booksellers Howell and Stewart.
Probably sold by that firm to scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865) for his library at Randalls Park, Leatherhead.
After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in June, 1866, paid in two instalments of £450 and £400, and then moved to 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.
Codicological description based on B. W. Robinson, Persian Paintings in the John Rylands Library: A Descriptive Catalogue (London, 1980).
Physical 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.
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
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