Persian MS 661 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: Translations of an unidentified source on the Abbasid Dynasty, with additional memoranda, by former owner Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865). It commences with a Table of Contents, then ‘Verses’, followed by ‘Principle pieces’, and many other lists and divisions..

Author, Translator, Scribe, Former owner and Inscriber: Bland, Nathaniel, 1803-1865

Title: Persian texts in English translation

Incipit: (beginning) Pa 1.7 Dynasty of the Abbassids.
So that there were Thirty seven persons of the family of the sons of Abbas, who assumed the garment of administration, and drank
the wine of soveriegnty from the goblet of Fortune. and the whole time of their power
was from the 13th of day of Rabial' Awwal, 132, to
the 6th day of Sefer, 656, being 523 years, and 2 months, and 23 days, according to the fol:
lowing divisions...

Explicit: من البدایع:
They relate thay then Jaffer in the year 158 made the family marrige.

Colophon: No colophon

Language(s): English

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Written on British manufactured paper with ~9 laid lines per cm and 25 mm between chain lines, with Brittania watermarks and countermarked:
‘R BOND
PLYMOUTH
1827
4’.
Watermark:Watermark: 108 × 82 mm.
Countermark: 138 × 64 mm. .

Dimensions (leaf): 204 × 163 mm.

Foliation: Unfoliated

Collation

One quire. No catchwords.

Condition

Text in good condition.

Layout

Written in a single column with variant lines per page. Unruled.

Hand(s)

Written in a clear English hand by Nathaniel Bland.

Binding

Likely purchased as a blank notebook by former owner Nathaniel Bland.

Pamphlet stiched at three stations through large single quire. Covered in a semi-limp Spanish waved-patterned marbled paper wrapper adhered to the outer quire. Flush-cut edges, no endpands.

204 × 163 × 15 mm.

Handle binding with caution. In fair but stable condition, with the fore-edge chipped.

History

Origin: Completed by Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865), possibly at his home, Randalls Park, Leatherhead sometime between 1827 and 1865.

Provenance and Acquisition

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.

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.

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

Subjects

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