- Language(s)
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Persian
- Published
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[1825 to 1875?].
- Summary
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Fine copy of Abū Ṭālib Khān Tabrīzī Iṣfahānī's Khulāṣat al-afkār, a taz̲kirah with notices for Persian poets and extracts from their works, followed by his treatises on moral behavior, music, prosody, and medicine as well as his universal history, Lubb al-siyar va jahānʹnumā.
- Note
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Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 269
Origin: Lacks dated colophon, but likely mid 19th century as suggested by paper. Opening matter on fol.2b (p.4) indicates that composition of main work was finished in 1207 [1792-1793].
Accompanying materials: a. envelope in blue wove paper printed in French, Ottoman Turkish, Greek and Armenian with the mark of a pharmacy in "مقری کوی" [Makrıköy, Istanbul] accompanied by inscription in ink, ruqʻah script with name, etc. "عزتلو اسمائل بك افندى ..." -- b. between fol.119-120 (p.238-239) a slip inscribed with names, etc. in black ink, Ottoman hand.
Binding: Heavy pasteboards covered in red orange leather ; Type III binding (without flap) ; board linings in blue-tinted, gold-flecked paper ; flyleaves in untinted (cream to dark cream) wove paper ; upper and lower covers bear simple tooled (with s-shaped stamp) and gold-painted outer border with inner rulings of gold-painted fillets ; sewn in pink-cream thread, two stations ; finely worked chevron endbands in yellow (soiled and faded to cream) and maroon ; in fair condition with some abrasion, staining, edge wear, gashes, etc. ; endbands in excellent condition ; cover still very well-attached to textblock despite the book's heft.
Support: European laid paper of at least two types [1] in opening quire, final quire, etc. vertical chain lines very evenly spaced at 25 mm. apart, any laid lines are too fine to be visible, dark cream, burnished ; watermarks include "PICARDO" with six petaled flower above, alternating with lion in scrollwork in other leaves (as in Heawood 3737, c.1825 Lisbon) and [2] in final folio, etc. chain lines vertical evenly spaced 29 mm. apart, laid lines horizontal spaced roughly 11 laid lines per cm., quite even and distinct, well-burnished, dark cream color ; watermarks include latin cross in minor scrollwork shield, initials "G B" below (final folio) ; in second to final folio "BELLANDO" ; in fourth to final folio "GRILLO" with figure on ball/pedestal (very similar to Heawood 1364-1365) above ; some burnishers marks ; pigment burn (especially blue in illuminated headpieces).
Decoration: Well-executed illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān) on fol.1b (p.2) consists of narrow rectangular piece with empty gold cartouche and flanking accents in gold, blue, red, and pink surmounted by tall scalloped semi-circular (dome) approaching w-shaped piece with intricate swirling floral vegetal pattern in black, blue, pink, red, green, yellow, orange, white, and gold on fields of blue and gold ; similar illuminated headpiece appears on fol.312b (p.624) ; on fol.314b (p.628) and fol.316b (p.632) small illuminated headpieces, mainly gold resembling elongated cartouche with flanking accent pieces in white, blue, pink, yellow and red ; on fol.339a (p.677) an illuminated headpiece consisting of narrow rectangular piece carrying the basmalah surmounted by a piece giving the effect of an inverted w-shaped piece with swirling floral vegetal pattern similar to that appearing in the first headpieces ; throughout, text is surrounded by a frame consisting of a heavy gold band outlined by black fillets, an inner gold band and an outer blue fillet and then at some distance a second frame consisting of a thin gold band outlined by black fillets ; various columns and other areas of the written area are delineated by a thin gold band outlined by black fillets ; on incipit and facing page, margin filled with a swirling floral vegetal pattern in black, gold, red, and green ; text rubricated with keywords, section headings, overlining, etc. in red ; decorative tables of contents appear in main work ; a few diagrams appear in main work and several in appended works, see for example diagrams in treatise on prosody (divided concentric circles fol.318b-320a/p.636-639 and tree-like forms fol.320b/p.640) and in historical work (figure of fol.352b/p.704 showing the planets through Saturn in their orbits around the sun and figure of fol.359b/p.718 showing the circle of the Earth divided to its inhabited and uninhabited quarters).
Script: Nastaʻlīq ; small, fine Persianate hand ; sans serif ; characteristic descent of words to baseline, superscript of final words/letters, letterforms, etc. ; tables of contents in the main work provided in an unpointed script (resembling siyāq / siyāqat), freely ligatured and with dramatic swooping tails.
Layout: Written in roughly 27 lines per page (though varies where tables of contents, figures, diagrams, etc. appear) ; mainly large single column, often divided to four columns where poetry appears but varies to accommodate tables of contents and figures ; frame-ruled (impression of ruling board quite evident).
Collation: i, 38 IV (304), III+1 (311), IV+1 (320), 4 IV (352), I (354), III (360), 5 IV (400), I (402), i ; chiefly quaternions ; a few gaps in the text on fol.349b (p.698) where rubrics appear to be lacking ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals supplied during cataloguing.
Explicit: "يعقوب شاه بن يوسف شاه است كه در سنه نهصد و نود و پنج برد ست اكبرى عاجز شده بهند آمد ودر سلك امرا منتظم كشت ازان باز كشمير سلاطين دهلى تعلق داشت حالا در تصرف شاه ابدالى است الحمد لله رب العالمين كه اين رساله جامع صفت اختتام يافت"
Incipit: "لالى منشور سپاس و ستايش باستحقاق نثار دامن كبرياي [؟] ناظمى تواند بود كه بمحض قدرت كامله گوهر پمانند سخن و معاني در عقد الفاظ ولسان نسائي [؟] كشيد و جواهر ... اما بعد ابجد خوان دبستان يحمداني [؟] ابو طالب ابن مغفور حاجى محمد تبريزى الاصفهانى بعرض اهوش و كوش سالكان مسالك سخداني مير ساند ... "
Title supplied by cataloguer from opening matter (preface) on fol.2b (p.4).
Ms. codex.
Former owners' marks include "420 T. De M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" in pencil on verso of front flyleaf and "10 / 5" in black ink on fol.1a (p.1) ; a few glosses, notabilia and marginal corrections, though fairly clean copy.
- Physical Description
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402 leaves :
paper ;
299 x 200 (218 x 134) mm. bound to 305 x 207 mm.