Persian MS 940 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
An unidentified brief Persian statistical account of India.
Leaves 33-53 only
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Written in a single column in up to 13 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear but dense black nasta‘līq with headers and vocabulary in red.
Binding
Probably bound for former owner Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880).
Resewn on four stations on recessed cords laced into pasteboards. Endpapers of ivory-coloured, cross-grained, French mould-made paper which while unwatermarked, matches other volumes as that sold by a Parisian firm founded by Pancrace Michallet in circa 1850, with 10 laid lines per cm and 29 mm between laid lines. Edges trimmed, spine lined, then covered, 'to the book' hollow-backed, in in morocco-grained black bookcloth, without endbands.
Spine titled ‘STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF INDIA’ and ‘ABOUT 1770’ at the tail.
262 × 145 × 14 mm.
Binding in good condition, albeit with the first right flyleaf (f. i) stained.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
While the circumstances under which this volume arrived in Britain remain unclear, Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) acquired it from an unidentified soure, 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
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