Manuscripts in Thuluth Script 102 items

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 243

Origin: As appears in signature on each panel, executed by Eğrikapılı Mehmet Râsim Efendi known as İmamzade (d.1756), who acquired his icazet in 1705.

Former shelfmark: "545 T. D. M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" inscribed in pencil on upper board lining ; "39" in pencil on recto of opening panel.

Binding: Pasteboards covered in dark red leather ; Type III binding (without flap) ; board linings (doublures) and reverse of opening and closing panels in fine marbled paper (ebru in blue, red, pink, green, etc.) ; upper and lower covers carry gold-tooled borders ; panels edged and hinged together with red brown leather ; overall in fairly good condition ; repairs to spine and hinges in Japanese paper.

Support: Written area on well-burnished paper, pieced, set into an elaborate frame in several different laid papers (yellow-tinted, mint-tinted, pink-tinted, orange-tinted, and untinted, all gold-flecked and with colors of facing panels matching) and mounted.

Decoration: Illuminated rectangular pieces filled with vegetal decoration in shades of gold, pink, orange, etc. flank lower central written area on each panel ; written area and divisions within surrounded by frames of gold defined by bands of turquoise and white as well as black fillets ; illuminated floral accents in shades of pink, light green, red, gold, etc. set off text and frames.

Script: Exquisite specimen of Ottoman calligraphy ; opening large line of each panel in thuluth (sülüs), following lines naskh (nesih).

Layout: Written in roughly nine lines per page, a large line with eight following lines on the diagonal.

Collation: Six 'panels' (mounted leaves) edged and hinged together with brown leather ; opens vertically.

Colophon: Each panel signed "حرره الفقير محمد راسم," "حرره الفقير محمد راسم المعروف بامام," etc.

Explicit: "وفوقه عرش الرحمن ومنه تفجر انهار الجنة"

Incipit: ""بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ان المرأة تقبل في صورة شيطان قال النبي صلوات الله عليه وسلامه ان المسلم اذا انفق على اهله نفقة وهو يحتسبها كانت له صدقة ..."

Title supplied by cataloguer.

Ms. codex.

Exquisite album of calligraphy (muraqqaʻ or murakkaa) comprising kıt'alar employing ḥadīth of the Prophet executed by the celebrated Ottoman calligrapher Eğrikapılı Mehmet Râsim Efendi (d.1756), renowned student of Seyyid Abdullah of Yedikule (d.1731).

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 279

Origin: Date below vase with large floral spray 1281 [1864 or 5] ; other features also suggest 19th century. As appears in opening text, possibly executed for the Ottoman statesman Mehmet Fuat Paşa (d.1869).

Former shelfmark: "598 [?]" inscribed in pencil on verso of 'front' flyleaf ; "123" inscribed in pencil on recto of 'back' flyleaf.

Binding: Pasteboards covered in dark green leather (appearance of straight-grain leather but likely impressed straight grain or other artificial grain) ; Type II binding (with flap) ; pastedowns and flyleaves in a streaked paper (in yellow, dark purple, etc. reminiscent of tree-marbling or stream marbling) ; upper and lower covers carry gold-stamped central vegetal pendant, corner accents and vegetal border ; sewn in red thread, four stations, failed ; overall in fair condition with abrasion, staining, etc.

Support: Paper of written area embossed to carry text and figurative designs, set in surface-dyed frames of bright green and mounted on pasteboards.

Decoration: Embossed borders (reminiscent of mountains) as well as vegetal and figurative designs with such animals as lions, dragons, stags, bulls, etc. accenting the calligraphy or filling a page.

Script: Mainly nastaʻlīq with occasional thuluth ; exquisite calligraphic hand executed with the fingernail or stylus in the technique known as khaṭṭ-i nākhunī ( خط ناخنی / khaṭṭ-e nākhonī). Compare no. 1-85-154.63 at the Library of Congress and see description provided by Christiane Gruber in Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy (available online).

Layout: Varies widely, pages carrying text with mainly 6-8 lines per page ; many pages carrying figurative or vegetal decoration only.

Collation: Seven 'panels' (mounted leaves) hinged together with blue textile.

Explicit: "ایا چرخ در پیش قدر تو واله ... تویی آنکه بر درگهت چرخ دربان كتبه ابو تراب افتاده"

Incipit: "مديح سپهر رفعت بحر و قار و كدهي يكانه كوهر بحر كرم فؤاد پاشا ... "

Title supplied by cataloguer.

Ms. codex.

Superb album of calligraphy (muraqqaʻ or murakkâ) employing verses of Anvari, etc. with interspersed figurative illustrations of lions, dragons, stags, bulls, etc. as well as vegetal motifs, all embossed in white paper likely with the fingernail, a technique known as khaṭṭ-i nākhunī ( خط ناخنی / khaṭṭ-e nākhonī). Contributions to the description from Ulrich Marzolph and Emily Neumeier.

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 898

Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; paper, etc. would suggest late 19th century ; bookseller's label suggests terminus ante quem in the range of 1886 to 1916.

Accompanying materials: "a. Card with writing in hand of Emilie Savage-Smith: 'Not native hand, European? or very old writer | Arabic, in pencil | probably transcribing a text.' -- b. Slip of paper: 'Persian [crossed out] Arabic Manuscripts (Heyworth-Dunne?) No Husselman or Meredith-Owens notes' -- c. Slip of paper: 'Counted for 1968/69 Annual Report.'"- from handlist prepared by R. Dougherty, 1993, no longer in volume.

Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 47

Binding: Boards covered in dark brown cloth ; Western style binding ; pastedowns in wove paper (opening leaf of opening quire and final leaf of final quire) ; sewn in heavy cream thread, four stations, over two wide tapes / bands (flexible sewing) ; overall in fair condition with spine cloth gone (exposing sewing), some staining, abrasion, etc.

Support: European wove paper upon which leaves carrying the transcript have been affixed (compare Isl. Ms. 896).

Script: Naskh ; somewhat crudely executed in pencil in imitation of the exemplar ; mainly serifless, rounded with curvilinear descenders, occasional slight effect of words inclining to the left, otherwise adhering fairly consistently to the baseline, pointing in distinct dots, mainly open counters ; section headings in a larger, bolded script approaching tawqīʻ or thuluth ; compare Isl. Ms. 896.

Layout: Written in 23 lines per page ; frame-ruled.

Collation: IV* (7), 2 IV(23), IV* (30) ; opening leaf of opening quire and final leaf of final quire serving as pastedowns ; exclusively quaternions ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, in lower outer corner of each page.

Incipit: "تملك قسطنطين الاخير في التفاقم طول اناتك ايها السيد الضابط الكل كيف سمحت بهذه الامور بطول اناتك لكن اقول مع النبي من ذا عرف عقل الرب او من صار مشيرا عليه اي قلب حجري يقدر ان لا يكبر ولا ينوب ..."

Title supplied by cataloguer.

Ms. codex.

Transcript of excerpts from a historical work addressing the final Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos [Palaeologus] (d.1453), and the Ottoman Sultans Bayezid II (r.1481-1512), Selim I (r.1512-1520), and Süleyman I [the Magnificent] (r.1520-1566).

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 1042

Origin: As appears in final colophon on p.155 (and colophons on p.32, p.48, p.65, p.130, etc.), transcription executed by Mīr ʻAṭā Muḥammad al-Ḥusaynī al-Harawī ( مير عطا محمد الحسينى الهروى ) and completed 12 Ḥūt [Asfand] 1299 Hijrī Shamsī, corresponding to 21 Jumādá II 1339 Hijrī Qamarī [ca. 2 March 1921].

Accompanying materials: a. Photocopy of Small white card with notes in German on authors, date and title (presumably in hand of Dr. Gruening, see letter from Schulte) and page from legal pad with description in hand of J. Eilts "in Persian | Panj Kitāb a collection of five poetical works and a commentary by Mīr ʻAṭṭā Muḥammad was completed on the 21st day of the month of Jumadah 2 in the year 1339 (1921) of the lunar Islamic calendar. It was dedicated to Sulṭān Aḥmad Kabīr of Kabul. One "book" of poetry is by Saʻdī and another by Farīd al-Dīn ʻAṭṭār. The other authors were not mentioned. Inside front cover is dedication to Mīrzā (Prince) Muḥammad Āṣṣāf Munajjim and the date 1310 of the Solar calendar." -- b. Photocopy of letter from Frank J. Schulte of Grand Rapids, to Dr. Howard H. Peckham, Clements Library, University of Michigan, dated 13 November 1976 and received 18 November 1976, describing and offering to the Library this manuscript and Isl. Ms. 1043.

Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 191

Binding: Heavy pasteboards covered in painted lacquerwork, spine in dark greenish-brown leather ; Type III binding (without flap), two-piece binding (seam of overlapping flanges visible at spine) ; doublures in fine painted lacquerwork of swirling floral vegetal composition in gold on a dark red ground ; upper and lower covers bear paintings (each unique) of swirling floral composition namely central panel filled with clusters of roses, peonies, irises, etc. in red, yellow, orange, and blue set among leaves in shades of green, surrounded by a heavy band of similar floral designs, all set off by cornerpieces and vegetal borders in gold ; sewn in red and white thread, two stations ; worked chevron endbands in yellow and red, fairly good condition ; overall in fair condition with minor lifting and losses of leather, minor crazing, etc. ; ill-fitting and likely much earlier than text block.

Support: non-European (likely Indian or 'Afghani') laid paper with roughly 6 laid lines per cm. (horizontal, quite thick and distinct, fairly straight) and no chain lines visible, thin and transluscent though sturdy, beige in color, well-sized and burnished to glossy ; tissue leaves interleaved at opening and close of many works to protect illuminated decorations.

Decoration: Splendid illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) at opening of each section (p.18, p.34, p.50, p.68, p.132, p.140), generally consisting of a rectangular piece containing a pious formula (shahādah, ḥasbalah, ḥawqalah, etc.) in bold thuluth in monumental style, surmounted by a scalloped dome, hasp, semi-circular piece, w-shaped piece etc. (opening headpiece on p.18 surmounted by emblem of the Bārakzay dynasty [Bārakzī]) filled with bold floral vegetal designs mainly in bright blue or lapis lazuli and gold with red, light green, yellow, etc. accents ; many headings appear in rectangular pieces set off by flanking vegetal designs (or in rare occasions animals, see pp.60-63) in gold with red and blue accents on fields of blue, green, red, etc. ; written area surrounded by frame in gold with outermost blue rule ; margin also defined by blue rule-border ; written area of incipit and facing page at each opening accented with gold cloud-bands ; written area of preceding 'title page' or page at close left blank but surrounded by a decorative vegetal border and cornerpieces in blue or red ; keywords and headings rubricated ; textual dividers in the form of inverted commas in red.

Script: Nastaʻlīq ; elegant, spacious and carefully executed hand in a medium line ; serifless with effect of words descending to baseline, elongation and somewhat exaggerated thickness of horizontal strokes, pointing in conjoined dots, gāf marked with additional stroke above shaqq / sar kash ; Arabic excerpts in a bold naskh seriffed with dramatic left-sloping head-serif on many ascenders, right-sloping head-serif on other descenders, rounded with many sweeping descenders ; some headings in tawqīʻ or thuluth.

Layout: Written in 12-16 lines per page, with written area often divided to two columns ; frame-ruled.

Collation: 10 IV(80), II (84) ; almost exclusively quaternions ; opening and final quires left entirely blank and unruled ; middle of the quire marks in the form of an oblique stroke in black ink in the upper outer corner of the right-hand leaf ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization.

Dedication: At close on p.154, dedication to Amīr Amān Allāh Khān ( امير امان الله خان ) [Amānallāh Shāh], king of Afghanistan (r.1919-1929), and Muḥammad Sarwar Khān ( محمد سرور خان ).

Colophon: "Authorial" and "Scribal," reads "امر بنوشتن مجموعه كثير المنفعه كه مشهور به پنج کتاب است فرمودند ... اطاعة لامره العالى به تحرير اين مجموعه مباركه پرداختم تا همه آن مجموعه مباركه سمت تحرير پذیرفت وانا العبد المذنب اقل السادات والعلماء مير عطا محمد امام مسجد ... حضرت سلطان سيد احمد كبير قدس الله سره العزيز ... فى تاريخ يوم چهار شنبه ١٢ ماه حوت سنه هجرى شمسى ١٢٩٩ يكهزار و دو صد و نود نه مطابق سنه هجرى قمرى ٢١ شهر جمادى الثانى يكهزار و سه صد و سى و نه سنه ١٣٣٩ تمت بالخير ...اللهم افتح لنا بالخير واختم لنا بالخير واجعل عواقب كل امورنا بالخير امين"

Title from closing matter on p.155.

Ms. codex.

14. p.156-p.168 : [blank].

13. p.154-p.155 : [copyist's epilogue].

12. p.140-p.153 : [Risālah-i Qāz̤ī Quṭb ?] / Quṭb al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ghiyās̲ al-Dīn [?].

11. p.138-p.139 : [blank].

10. p.132-p.137 : Ṣad pand-i sūdmand-i Luqmān-i Ḥakīm.

9. p.131 : [blank].

8. p.68-p.130 : [Pandnāmah-i ʻAṭṭār] / Farīd al-Dīn ʻAṭṭār.

7. p.66-p.67 : [blank].

6. p.50-p.65 : [Maḥmūdnāmah] / Maḥmūd Lāhūrī.

5. p.49 : [blank].

4. p.34-p.48 : [Nām-i Ḥaqq] / Sharaf al-Dīn Bukhārī.

3. p.33 : [blank].

2. p.18-p.32 : [Karīmā] / Saʻdī.

1. p.1-p.17 : [mainly blank].

Splendid copy of a collection of didactic poetical works on proper conduct of life.

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 95

Origin: Lacks dated colophon ; likely late 14th or 15th century.

Accompanying materials: Vast number of slips bearing notes, virtually all tipped in (paginated pp.7-8, pp.11-12, etc.).

Former shelfmark: British Museum, London. "No. 123. Kanz al-dakaik."

Binding: Pasteboards faced in laid paper with brown leather over spine, fore-edge and edges/turn-ins (paper faced, leather edged, framed binding) ; Type II binding (with flap) ; board linings in laid paper ; sewn in pink thread, two stations ; worked endbands in red and green (headband) and in red and cream (tailband) ; in poor condition with significant abrasion, staining, lifting and losses of leather, delamination of boards, moisture damage, etc.

Support: non-European laid paper with extremely faint laid and chain lines, very difficult to examine ; numerous repairs ; added leaf with table of contents in European laid paper.

Decoration: Abbreviations rubricated throughout ; overlining in red throughout ; keywords, section headings and abbreviations rubricated in excerpts ; written area of final excerpt (p.275-278) surrounded by rule-border in two fillets.

Script: Naskh ; Syrian or Turkish hand ; virtually serifless ; large and clear, quite rounded, with open and closed counters, occasional slight effect of tilt to the left and swooping descenders, section headings in bold thuluth ; two additional hands supply the text of the exerpts (from p.272 to p.278) ; the first of these (see p.272-274) similar but more compact, with many closed counters, swooping descenders, etc. ; the final (see p.275-278) more compact, in a heavier line and with fewer swooping descenders ; pointing in main hand and final hand utilizes inverted caret for two dots ; in second hand inverted caret or distinct dots for two dots, and inverted comma for three dots ; marginalia in numerous other hands.

Layout: Written in 15 lines per page ; excerpts of final leaves in 21 lines per page ; frame-ruled.

Collation: i, III+1 (7), 2 III(19), I(21), 6 V(81), VI-1 (92), 2 (94) ; chiefly quinions ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes vast number of inserts).

Explicit: "ثم اقسم المبلغ على التصحيح ومن صالح من الورثة على شيء فاجعل كان لم يكن واقسم على سهام من بقي ما بقي"

Incipit: "الحمد لله الذي أعز العلم في الاعصار وأعلى حزبه في الامصار ... قال مولانا ... ابو البركات عبد الله بن احمد بن محمود النسفي ... رايت الهمم المائلة الى المختصرات ... واردت ان الخص الوافي ... فشرعت فيه بعد التماس طائفة من اعنان الافاضل ... وسميته بكنز الدقائق ..."

Title from opening (p.6).

Ms. codex.

Extensively annotated copy of the important treatise of Ḥanafī fiqh, a synopsis of the author's own Kitāb al-Wāfī, modelled on the Hidāyah of ʻAlī ibn Abī Bakr al-Marghīnānī (d. 1196 or 7), followed by exerpts.

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 97

Origin: As appears in colophon on p.447, transcription finished ("wa-qad waqaʻa al-farāgh min taḥrīr hādhā al-kitāb...") in the first part of Jumādá I 929 [March 1523].

Former shelfmark: British Museum, London "No.146. Glosses on the Wikayah."

Binding: Pasteboard covered in dark brown leather with red-brown leather repairs on spine and at edges/turn-ins ; Type II binding (with flap, now lost) ; board linings in laid paper ; cover bears blind-stamped scalloped mandorla with floral vegetal composition (compare Déroche class. OAi2 5) ; sewn in white thread, two stations ; worked chevron endbands in red and sky blue, fine condition ; overall in poor condition with upper cover and flap lost, significant abrasion, staining, lifting and losses of leather, delamination of boards, etc.

Support: non-European laid paper with 7 laid lines per cm. (horizontal) and chain lines grouped in threes with 9-10 mm. between the chains and roughly 35 mm. between groups ; well-burnished.

Decoration: Keywords, section headings, and abbreviations rubricated ; occasional overlining and textual divders in the form of discs in red ; written area (opening through p.64 and then p.251 to close) surrounded by red rule-border.

Script: Naskh-nastaʻlīq ; virtually serifless ; mainly closed counters ; effect of words descending to baseline, occasionally more exaggerated ; occasional extension of horizontal strokes ; colophon in thuluth.

Layout: Written in 29 lines per page ; frame-ruled.

Collation: ii, 6 V(60), II+2 (66), V (76), II (80), 4 V(120), II (124), 6 V(184), IV+1 (193) ; chiefly quinions ; p.134 and p.444 left blank, unmarked ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes flyleaves and inserts ; drops from p.132 to p.131 thus repeating pp.131-132).

Colophon: "Scribal," rectangular, reads: "وقد وقع الفراغ من تحرير هذا الكتاب في اوائل جمادى الاولى في سنة تسع وعشرين وتسعمائة"

Explicit: "وان لم يمتد اعتقاله او لم يعلم اشاراته لم يكن حكمه حكم الاخرين فلا يعتبر اشارته و كتابته تم بعون الله تع"

Incipit: "الحمد لله الذى شرح صدر الشريعة الغراء ... وبعد فان تكميل النفوس الانسانية بالفضائل القدسية و تحليتها بالخصائل الانسية... فشرعت فيها ثانيا بعد ايابي من تلك الاراضي المقدسة ... وسميتها بذخيرة العقبى في شرح صدر الشريعة العظمى ..."

Title from opening (p.7).

Ms. codex.

Fine copy of the gloss by Yūsuf ibn Junayd Akhī Chelebi on Sharḥ al-Wiqāyah by Ṣadr al-Sharīʻah al-Aṣghar (al-Thānī) ʻUbayd Allāh ibn Masʻūd al-Maḥbūbī, itself a commentary on Wiqāyat al-riwāyah fī masāʼil al-Hidāyah by Maḥmūd ibn Ṣadr al-Sharīʻah al-Maḥbūbī, an epitome on the celebrated work of Ḥanafī fiqh, al-Hidāyah by ʻAlī ibn Abī Bakr al-Marghīnānī. (see Isl. Ms. 86 for another ms. copy of this work).

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 238

Origin: As appears at close, calligraphy executed by ʻUthmān, known as Ḥāfiẓ Kalām al-Wahhāb (i.e. Hafız Osman Efendi) in 1099 [1687 or 8]. Decoration and earlier mounting likely 18th century. Most recent mounting and borders likely 19th century.

Former shelfmark: "546 T.D.M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" in pencil on reverse of uppermost panel ; "113" in pencil in border adjacent to illuminated headpiece.

Binding: The three pieced panels of the levha are mounted on boards backed with silk, edged and hinged together with red-brown leather, unfolding like a triptych but vertically ; some repairs to the edging in purple leather ; minor hinge repairs in Japanese paper.

Support: European laid paper, well-burnished, pieced and mounted on boards.

Decoration: Illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) appears in a rectangular panel above the baş makam, consisting of a semi-circular piece (dome) filled with a depiction of al-Masjid al-Ḥarām at Mecca (kaʻbah visible) and set off by an outer border of swirling vegetal designs in white, lavender, mint green, pink, gold, etc. on a blue ground with heavy gold and black borders and surmounting vertical stalks (tīgh) ; the same vegetal designs fill the area around the göbek and the koltuklar ; a black and gold frame surrounds the uppermost rectangular panel, the baş makam, the square containing the göbek, hilâl (in gold), and names of the çiharyâr, the ayet and the etek ; bands of turquoise and gold surround the circles with names of the çiharyâr ; textual dividers in the form of illuminated rosettes accent the hilye text ; a heavy border in olive green with gold painted floral accents, itself set-off by white fillets and framed by black and gold bands, surrounds the entire levha.

Script: Exquisite specimen of Ottoman calligraphy ; basmalah (besmele), āyah (ayet) and names of the first four caliphs (çiharyâr) in thuluth (sülüs) ; hilye texts (of the göbek and etek) in naskh (nesih).

Layout: Baș makam with besmele (opening with "انه من سليمان وانه" in small cartouche above "بسم") ; göbek with 9 lines of text ; ayet in a single line ; etek with 4 lines of text.

Collation: Three 'panels' (likely once a single levha, now pieced) hinged together with red-brown leather, opening for display as a levha.

Colophon: "كتبه اضعف الكتاب عثمان المعروف بحافظ كلام الوهاب سنه تسع وتسعين والف"

Explicit: "يقول ناعته لم ار قبله ولا بعده مثله صلى الله عليه وسلم"

Incipit: "عن علي كان اذا وصف النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال لم يكن بالطويل الممغط ولا بالقصير المتردد ..."

Title supplied by cataloguer.

Ms. (three panels hinged together).

Exquisite hilye (written depiction of the Prophet) executed by the master who developed this graphic form of the hilye, Hafız Osman Efendi (d.1698). Decoration and mounting later, likely in at least two distinct stages (18th and 19th century).