Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World

Persian MS 929 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

Persian Manuscripts

Contents

Summary of Contents: This undated and isolated fifth volume of the Rawz̤at al-Ṣafā (Garden of Purity) relates the ancestry of the Mongol ruler Chinggis Khān to the conquest of Tīmūr Shāh (Tamerlane).

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: 188 folios (ff. i + 188 + i)
Dimensions (leaf): 275 × 160 mm.
Dimensions (written): 217 × 100 mm.
Foliation:

Foliated in pencilled Arabic numerals on the upper-left corners of the a sides.

Collation

Undetermined. Catchwords throughout on the lower-left corners of the b sides, with many trimmed.

Condition

Handle with extreme caution. In very poor condition, with extensive stains and insect damage, largely unrepaired. Most gutter margins replaced.

Layout

Written in 1 columns with 29 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in nasta‘līq script in black with headers in red.

Binding

Possibly rebound in India in European syle, in full polished crimson goatskin leather, with cream-coloured wove paper endpapers.

Blind-tooled with a foliate scrollwork decorative roll along the board perimeters. Spine panels blind-palleted with double fillet lines.

279 × 170 × 35 mm.

Handle with extreme caution. In poor condition, with exterior abraded and peeling, frayed headcaps. Boxed.

History

Origin: Possibly India. Undated, but possibly 17th to 18th centuries.

Provenance and Acquisition

Evidently acquired as an isolated purchase by 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 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


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