Persian MS 941 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

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Persian Manuscripts

Summary of Contents: Mistitled A short historical account of Twelve Subahs, this manuscript only preserves the first three. An incomplete extract from the third volume of the Akbarnāmah (Book of Akbar) entitled Ā’īn-i Akbarī (Akbar's Administration) by Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak (1551–1602), an unidentified scribe probably completed in Indian subcontinent in the 18th century CE.

Title: A short historical account of Twelve Subahs

Incipit: (basmalla) برگ ۱ر (folio 1a): احوال دوازده صوبه عمل بادشاه اکبر: سال چهلم الهی دو هزار و هیفصد و سی و هفت قصبه از صد و پنج سرکار در قلم رو بود چون جمع ده ساله فراز گرفت.

Colophon: No colophon.

Language(s): Persian

For other complete copies of the entire work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 170, 171, 172, and 800.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Written on medium-weight, buff-coloured, heavily flocked, externally sized, and highly polished, paper probably handmade in the Indian subcontinent with ~10 laid lines per cm and few discernible chain lines.

Extent: 24 folios, 4 flyleaves (ii + 24 + ii)

Dimensions (leaf): 258 × 137 mm.

Dimensions (text): 204 × 163 mm.

Foliation: Modern pencilled Arabic numerals added to the upper-left corners of the a sides throughout.

Collation

4IV(32) Catchwords on the lower-left corners of the b sides throughout.

Condition

Text in good condition.

Layout

Written in a single column primarily in 14 to 19 lines per page. uled with a misṭarah hand guide.

Hand(s)

Written in clear black nasta‘līq with headers, markings, and underscores in red.

Additions: Bookplates: The left pastedown: ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ and ‘Persian MSS No. 941’ written aside.

Binding

Probably bound for former owner Alexander Lindsay.

Resewn on four stations on recessed cords laced into pasteboards. Endpapers of ivory-coloured, straight-grained, French mould-made paper partially watermarked ‘MICHALLET’ on the second right flyleaf a side, 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 ‘AN ACCOUNT OF TWELVE SUBAHS’ and ‘ABOUT 1760’ at the tail.

245 × 181 × 8 mm.

Binding in good condition, albeit with the first right flyleaf (f.ia) and final left flyleaf (f.ivb) stained.

History

Origin: Unsigned but possibly completed in the Indian subcontinent; ; undated, but probably 18th century CE.

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 for his 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.

Bibliography

Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak, The History of Akbar. Translated by W. M. Thackston. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2015–.

Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak, Akbarnāmah. Edited by Āghā Ahmad ʼAlī. Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1873.

Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak, and Henry Beveridge. The Akbar Nāma of Abu-L-Fazl. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1897.

A. F. L. Beeston, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstânî, and Pushtû Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Part III (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954), p. 5 no. 2460 [Bodl Ms. Pers. B. 5].

Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the library of the India Office Vol. 1, (London: India Office Library, 1903), col. 107, no. 264 [BL IO Islamic 6].

D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 33, no. 99(i).

Bernard Quaritch, A Catalogue of Books, Arranged in Classes Comprising All Departments of Literature, Many of Them Rare, Valuable, and Curious, Offered for Sale (London: , Apr. 1864), p. 316, no. 5921.

C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), p.251 [BL Add. 7652].

E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Vol I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 115, no. 213 [Bodl. Ouseley Add. 165].

C. A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, Vol. I Pt. 2 (London: Luzac & Co., 1935), p. 549, §709(2).

Funding of Cataloguing

Iran Heritage Foundation

The Soudavar Memorial Foundation

The John Rylands Research Institute

Subjects

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