Persian MS 941 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
Persian Manuscripts
Contents
For other complete copies of the entire work held in the Rylands, see Persian MS 170, 171, 172, and 800.
Physical Description
Collation
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.
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
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
Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
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