Manuscript. Persian and Arabic. Caption title. Scribe not identified. Gift of A.A. Kachif, Nov. 20, 1930. Written in Iran. Paper; thick, polished light cream color paper with no watermarks; elaborate floral unwan in gold, blue, red, and white with wide borders of a similar floral pattern and similar colors of fol. 1b and 2a; an outer border of two very thin lines accompanies all the text on facing pages; the text itself is enclosed in a border of black, white, gold, and red; floral section headings in gold, red and blue; lines of the text are separated by a cloud design in gold; text in black ink with small red overlining of some letters; catchwords. Nastaʻliq; in written area 13 x 7.5 cm. Fol. 1b-24a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M100. Binding; dark brown half leather with lacquered papier-mâché floral design on a copper colored background surrounded by contrasting green, red and green borders also with floral designs; inner sides of cover also lacquered with a paintings of dark pink roses on a brown background. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.Manuscript.
A wedding invitation to celebrate the marriage of Aḥmad ʻAlī Khān Bahādur addressed to Dr. George Ranken of the East India Company and his wife Lady Agnes Allan Ranken. The invitation is on red paper, written in Persian, and the script in painted gold leaf. Accompanied by an envelope with a personal stamp of the sender addressed to Dr. Ranken.
Manual of arithmetic and geometry for merchants' use including how to calculate the area of a ship. According to the compiler, the work includes excerpts from the following texts: Muntakhab al-ḥisāb, Līlāvatī, and Dastūr al-ʻamal.
Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldRecord origin: Image descriptions based in part on Topsfield, A. (2007), Paintings from Mughal India.
Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 885Origin: As appears in colophon on p.969 (and at close of باب الف ممدوده on p.978), copied by Mathurādās Khatrī, date not specified ; decoration, paper, etc. would suggest late 18th or early 19th century.Accompanying materials: a. Scrap cut from a Luzac catalog page with description and price for this manuscript "PERSIAN AND HINDUSTANI MSS. 175 Bahar i ʻajam. The well-known Persian dictionary. MS. Folio. Over 1000 pp. Leather binding. The colophon is dated A.H. 1243 ( = A.D. 1827), under the reign of Muhammad Akbar Shâh (II.) £2 10s." (paginated pp.1-2) -- b. Recycled card with handwriting of Emilie Savage-Smith [?] "ʻunwān or illum. frontispiece or heading." (paginated pp.3-4) -- c. Scrap of paper with title in ink "Bahār i ʻAjam." (paginated pp.5-6) -- d. Slip with note "Persian MSS (Heyworth-Dunne?) No Husselman or Meredith-Owens notes" (paginated pp.7-8).Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 34Binding: Pasteboards covered in deep red leather ; Western style binding ; pastedowns and flyleaves in untinted wove paper ; upper and lower covers carry delicate gold-tooled border in a rope pattern ; spine stamped "BUHARE | UJUM" ; now sewn in white thread over three cords ; worked chevron endbands in yellow and blue, good condition ; overall in somewhat poor condition with upper cover fully detached, some abrasion, staining, lifting of leather, etc.Support: non-European laid paper with 10 laid lines per cm. (vertical or horizontal, fairly distinct, some curving) and irregular chain lines faintly visible, sturdy, well-burnished, dark cream in color ; flyleaves / added leaves in wove paper.Decoration: Splendid illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) at opening on p.10 consisting of rectangular piece with cartouche (carrying the basmalah) flanked by pendants and delicate swirling floral vegetal decoration in blue, red, orange, and white on a gold ground, surmounted by scalloped w-shaped piece filled with more elaborate swirling floral vegetal decoration in red, orange, white, blue, green, etc. on grounds of gold with blue, green and white accents, itself surmounted by a pendant filled with similar decoration as well as fine vertical stalks (tīgh) in blue, entire piece set into a well consisting of a rather heavy gold band outlined by narrow bands of orange and gold defined by black fillets ; written area throughout surrounded by a gold frame with innermost red rule, and outer red and blue rules, further blue rule defines margin ; keywords and headings rubricated ; overlining or two-teeth abbreviation symbol in red.Script: Nastaʻlīq ; elegant hand in a medium line ; serifless with slight effect of words descending to baseline, elongation of horizontal strokes, pointing (two and three dots) mainly in distinct or conjoined dots.Layout: Written in 21 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: ii, 14 IV(112), III (118), IV+1 (127), 12 IV(223), IV+2 (233), 26 IV(441), II (445), IV+1 (454), 3 IV(478), IV-1 (485), iii ; chiefly quaternions ; lacuna on p.458 marked with "ص" ; p.970 prior to opening of Bāb-i alif-i mamdūdah left blank ; lacks proper catchwords but last word of final line on the verso of each leaf is usually repeated at the beginning of the first line on the following recto ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes inserts).Colophon: "Scribal," reads "الحمد لله والمنة که باتمام رسید منتخب کتاب بهار عجم تالیف استادی مخدومی تیک چند بهار بخط فقیر حقیر اضعف العباد متهراداس قوم کهتری فقط"Incipit: "مهار آفرینی که کلبرک ... دیباچه اصل بهار عجم سپاس و ستایش ایزد متعال را در خور که هريکى ار افراد انسان ..."Title from opening matter (p.11) and colophon (p.978).Ms. codex.Elegant copy of the dictionary of words and idioms used by the Persian poets compiled by Tīk Chand Bahār (d.1766) with added preface.
Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 894Origin: As appears in colophon on p.189 (accompanied by scribal verses), copied by Murtaz̤á ibn Muḥammad with transcription completed in 1073 [1662 or 3].Accompanying materials: a. Slip with description (in hand of E. Husselman ?) "ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad, called Jāmī. Bahāristān | Have many parts of the Haft Awrang, and some other poems, but apparently not this in Mich. MS. Isl." (paginated pp.1-2) -- b. Slip of paper with description in hand of G. Meredith-Owens "MO 18 Bahāristān of Jāmī | copied in 1073" (paginated pp.3-4) -- c. Slip with note "counted for 1968/69 Annual Report" (paginted pp.5-6) -- d. Slip with note "Persian MSS (Heyworth-Dunne?) with Husselman and Meredith-Owen notes" (paginated pp.7-8).Former shelfmark: Mich. Isl. Ms. temp. no. 43Binding: Boards covered in grey mottled (sponge-stained look) paper with green fading to tan leather over spine and board corners (half binding) ; Western style binding ; pastedowns and flyleaves in untinted laid paper ; spine accented with raised bands and gold-stamped title, author and shelfmark "BEHĀRI- STĀN E DJĀMĪ | MS. 1073" ; head edge of text block gilt ; sewn in white thread, over recessed cords ; stuck-on endbands ; overall in fair condition with slight abrasion, loss of pigment, etc. ; not original, note on upper pastedown describes rebinding.Support: European laid paper of a few types ; opening type with 7 laid lines per cm. (vertical), chain lines spaced 27-28 mm. apart (horizontal), and watermark of three crescents (about 80 mm. long, perpendicular to chains, see p.24, 30, 84, 42, etc.) ; another type with 8-9 laid lines per cm. (vertical), chain lines spaced 26-28 mm. apart (horizontal), and crown-star-crescent watermark (see p.38, 42, 54, 56, 190, etc.) ; another type with 8 laid lines per cm. (vertical), chain line spaced 26-28 mm. apart (horizontal) and three crescents watermark (75 mm. tall, perpendicular to chains, see p.118, 150, etc.) ; all quite sturdy, dark cream in color, well-sized and burnished.Decoration: Keywords and headings rubricated ; textual dividers in the form of red discs ; written area of incipit page surrounded by red rule-border.Script: Naskh with influence of nastaʻlīq ; elegant hand in a medium line ; mainly serifless with slight effect of tilt to the left, exaggerated elongation of horizontal strokes, curvilinear descenders, pointing (two and three dots) mainly in strokes rather than distinct dots, occasional effect of words descending to baseline ; hand changes just before close (pp.187-189) to a more compact nastaʻlīq.Layout: Written in 13 lines per page ; frame-ruled.Collation: iv, V (10), 2 VI(34), 4 V(74), VI (86), I (88), iii ; quinions and senions ; catchwords present ; text of p.26 apparently mistakenly entered by the copyist upside down (dotted lines provided for navigational clues) ; foliation in black ink, Western numerals ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes inserts and flyleaves).Colophon: "Scribal," triangular, reads "تمت الكتاب بعون الله الملك الوهاب على يد الضعيف عباد الصمد مرتضى بن محمد غفر الله له ولوالديه ولمن دعا له بالمغفره ... سنه ثلث وسبعين بعد الالف سنه ۱۰۷۳ ..."Incipit: "چو مرغ امر ذی بالی ز آغاز نه از نیروی حمد آید به پرواز ..."Title supplied by cataloguer.Ms. codex.Fine copy of Jāmī's collection of sayings, anecdotes, short notes and stories.
Collection of memorable sayings, witticisms, anecdotes, etc., in prose and poetry in 8 books; concerning (book 1) Sufis and saints, 2) sayings of the philosophers, 3) justice of kings, 4) generosity, 5) love, 6) jokes and witticisms, 7) poets, and 8) on animals; the text is incompete and breaks off shortly after the beginning of book 7.Manuscript.
Poems. Manuscript. Persian. Title from fol. 1a. Date from cover. Written by Ghulām Ismāʻīl. Written in Afghanistan. Paper; modern cream color paper; black ink; some sections written diagonally; no catchwords. Nastaʻliq; 15 lines, with some pages of fewer lines written diagonally. Binding is marbled paper over cardboard; light tan leather spine; text block separated from binding.Poems.
Selections from the Bhāgavatapurāṇa. Text begins with invocation to Krishna and Ganesha in Sanskrit transliterated into Persian. Some pages are missing.