Probably a commentary or glossary, with words in an unidentified language, probably Persian.Condition: torn, holes, badly rubbed, stainedLayout: 17 lines
Manuscript of Niẓāmī's Khamsah containing his five major poems: Makhzan al-Asrār, Khusraw va Shīrīn, Laylà va Majnūn, Haft Paykar, and Iskandarʹnāmah. The manuscript is lavishly illuminated with thirty illustrations painted in Indian style, and has fully decorated headpieces marking the beginning of each poem. The manuscript is undated, but it was probably copied in the 11th century A.H. / 17th century C.E.Layout: 17 lines, 4 columns to the pageScript: Clear Indian Taʿlīq
Letter from Joseph b. Ezra and Abraham b. Muʿṭī to Ḥalfon b. Nathaniel concerning business matters. He uses Persian phrases and mentions places such as Almeria and Fez. In the hand of Joseph b. Ezra.Condition: torn, holes, slightly rubbedLayout: 11 lines + marginalia (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Letter from Joseph b. Ezra and Abraham b. Muʿṭī to Ḥalfon b. Nathaniel concerning business matters, and using Persian phrases. In the hand of Joseph b. Ezra. 12th century.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 29 lines + marginalia (recto); 4 lines (verso)
A richly illuminated and almost complete copy of the Shahnamah with less than a page missing of its prose introduction, probably copied in the 16th/17th Century C.E. The drop-shaped Golkonda seal on the first page appears to be that of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Sultan of Golkunda, 1565-1612 Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Sultan of Golkunda, 1565-1612 with the date 1012 [1603/4 C.E.] and a later inscription dated 1091 [1610/11 C.E.]. There is no indication of when the manuscript was completed and no mention of its place of production. The ex libris on the first page is signed by Chas Wilkins, librarian of the East India Company with the date 15th August 1806, which indicates the manuscript's provenance. The double page frontispiece depicting Sulayman enthroned and Bilqis enthroned is followed by a luxuriously executed double page illumination in gold and polychrome [2v, 3r], which ornates the beginning of the introduction and also includes an ex libris of a royal library. The following eleven miniatures found in the text suggest an unusual choice of scenes and depict in order of their appearance: Kayumars enthroned, Guruy executing Siyavusha, Kay Khusrau appointing Tus to lead an expedition to Turan, Kamus fighting Giv and Tus, a full scale battle between the armies of Iran and Turan, Rustam rescuing Bizhan from the pit, Luhrasp enthroned, Isfandiyar's second labour: fighting the lions, Rustam killing Shaghad before dying and Bahram Gur killing a dragon in India. The manuscript is bound in multi-coloured leather with gilded medallions and ornations on the front and back cover and on the flap. This item was included in the Library’s 600th anniversary exhibition Lines of Thought: Discoveries that changed the world .Layout: The text of the poem is written in 4 columns, 25 linesBinding: A multicoloured leather binding with gilded medallions and ornations. The spine was a later addition during a restoration in the 19th Century. The binding was restored in 1999-2002, when the codex underwent a throrough restoration and conservation in Cambridge University Library's Conservation Department by Kristine Rose and Deborah Farndell.
The so-called 'Cambridge Tafsir' is the oldest extant copy of a Persian Qur'ānic commentary, written in 628 A.H. / 1231 C.E., as stated in the colophon. The first volume has not survived and this manuscript contains only the second part of the work, beginning with the Surah Maryam. The manuscript belonged to the Dutch Orientalist Thomas Erpenius Erpenius, Thomas, 1584-1624 .Layout: 21 lines to the pageScript: Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Fatḥ al-Faqīḥ al-Gharīb Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Fatḥ al-Faqīḥ al-Gharīb محمد بن ابي الفتح الفقيه الغريب
A richly illuminated 16th Century [CE] copy of the Persian version of Qazwini's ʻAjāʼib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharāʼib al-mawjūdāt, "The marvels of creation and the oddities of existence", commonly known as "The cosmography of Qazwini".. The text is structured according to a hierarchical cosmological order, with the celestial spheres, incorporating the fixed stars, the 12 signs of the Zodiac, stellar constellations and the surrounding spheres, which make up the observable celestial phenomena, followed by the invisible phenomena, the "Guardians of the Kingdom of God" and other angels, and the division of time and calendars. In the second section of the work the elemental division of the sublunar sphere is classified into the four elements fire, wind, water and earth. The seas, oceans and islands including their inhabitants, are governed by Water, while Earth contains the mountains, wells, rivers, minerals, plants and the animal kingdom, including human beings and their cultures. Numerous illustrations of commonly known mammals, birds, insects and reptiles can be found, along with strange beings, which conclude the text.Layout: 17 lines to the pageAdditions: A description of the manuscript on 243r in Latin signed by Saloman Negri Saloman Negri
This manuscript, entitled A collection of mystical and theological treatises contains four separate works. The first is a commentary on the Awarif al-Ma`arif (عوارف المعارف) of Suhrawardī , a well known work on Sufi doctrine in 63 chapters. The explanations, which are partly in Persian and partly in Arabic, are on selected words and passages of the text. In his introduction (ff. 1v-3v) the author states that he used the translation of his grandfather, Ẓāhir al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAlī al-Shīrāzī, d. 1316 (ظاهر الدين عبدالرحمن بن علي الشيرازي) Ẓāhir al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʻAlī al-Shīrāzī, d. 1316 (2r), praising it as the best translation of the original work. The same translation is also mentioned by Jāmī, 1414-1492 (جامی) Jāmī, 1414-1492 in his Nafaḥāt ʼal-ʼuns (نفحات الانس). The second is on a number of traditions from the al-ṣaḥīḥ (الصحيح of Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʻīl, 810-870 Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʻīl, 810-870 (البخارى، ابن عبد الله محمد بن اسمعيل) The third is a work entitled Kitāb al-Qaṣd ilā Allāh, which contains a collection of al-Shādhilī’s mystical sayings organized into 57 chapters. The works of the Moroccan Ṣūfī, who lived between ca. 593-656 A.H./ca. 1196-1258 C.E., have not survived; and only the texts collected by his disciples have come down to us, notably those included in the Laṭāʾif al-Minan by Ibn ʻAṭāʼ Allāh, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, d. 1309 Ibn ʻAṭāʼ Allāh, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, d. 1309 and the Durrat al-Asrār by Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh, Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Qāsim Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh, Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Qāsim The importance of this manuscript lies both in the text it has preserved and in its arrangement. A collation of the sayings of the Kitāb al-Qaṣd ilā Allāh with those transmitted by Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh and Ibn al-Sabbāgh reveals that this manuscript contains unedited content which has not been collected in other works. Although the name of the compiler is unknown, the coherent arrangement of the chapters and the completeness of their contents also suggest that this work was copied or compiled from a source that predated the aforementioned works of al-Shādhilī’s pupils.Layout: 23 linesAdditions: Catchwords in the interior bottom-margin of versos
