Persian MS 91 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in 3 columns with 19 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in a clear black Ottoman-style naskh hand with red subheaders.
Inscriptions: The first right flyleaf a side (f. ia) bears a couplet by Mushtāq:
‘تو چون رفتی بسلطان خیالت ملک دل دارم * عرض از چشم اگر رفتی نخواهی رفت از یادم’. Folios 1a signed by patron Claudius James Rich gifting the volume to Silvestre de Sacy:
‘To Mr. Silvestre de Sacy
This book is sent as a small token of respect & rememberance
by his sincere Friend & reliable(?) servant
Baghdad, May 20 1817, Claudius James Rich’.
Note that either the date of completion or gifting must be mistaken, as the former occurs after the latter. Bookplates: The bears de Sacy's bookplate with the numbers ‘302’ and ‘308’ inscribed above and below. paste-down bears the ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ with the shelfmark ‘F/6’, and ‘Bland MSS No. 290’, and ‘Jh. Mie Jouannin’, the last also on folio 1a. 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
Probaby bound in a late Ottoman-style binding in Baghdad for patron Claudius James Rich.
Endpapers of comparatively thin, Spanish-made 'Torreador and Bull' endpapers, with only the latter visible bearing the abbreviation ‘TCV’ on the bull, with 19 laid lines per 20 mm and 24 mm between chain lines, and thickness of 15 microns, add only to the front. 78 × 98 mm. .
Sewn at two stations, edges cut flush, and chevron endbands of black and white threads twined at head and tail. Covered in full polished crimson goatskin leather over pasteboards, flush-cut with the edges, and defined joints, but without a flap (Type III binding per Déroche). Interior hinges of the same leather connect the textblock to the cover, with European roller-printed floriate decorated endpapers applied as pastedowns on the board interiors.
Boards decorated with hand-painted central flowers and fronts, with detached pendants, connected by vetical single lines with perpendicular flourishes, corners of the same style on interior double-ruled marginns, with exterior margins ruled and stamped with a repeated s-shaped tool to form zincirek chain designsa, outlined with single gold ruled lines on either side.
225 × 152 × 24 mm.
Binding in good condition with minor scuffing on the exterior.
Folio 1a bears an octagonal black seal impression of Claudius James Rich intaglio-carved in the centre in two stacked thuluth lines, with central double ruling, and again twice on either side of a bold blank rule surrounding the exterior, which is infulled by an Arabic devotional quatrain, and dated 1227 AH (1812–1813 CE): ‘كلوديوس جيمس ريچ’
بلغ العلی بکماله * کشف الدجی بجماله | حسنت جمیع خصاله * صلوا علیه و آله |
37 × 38 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
After de Sacy's death, presumably inherited by his son Samuel Ustazade Silvestre de Sacy (d. 1879), who sold many of his father's oriental manuscripts through Parisian booksellers Romain Merlin (1793–1871) and Grangeret de la Grange, (1790-1859) on 1843 (no. 217), where an individual named 'Moore' purchased it.
Thereafter acquired by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803–1865) purchased it then brought it to his home at Britain.
After Bland's death, London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866.
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 and his Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2021 with reference to the volume.
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.
Custodial History
Exhibited in Gilded Word and Radiant Image, sponsored by the Altajir Trust.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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