Kitāb al-Mas̲navī

Title:

Kitāb al-Mas̲navī
كتاب المثنوي

Alternative title:

Mas̲navī
Kitāb al-Mathnawī
Mas̲navī-i maʻnavī
كتاب المثنوي المعنوي المولوي
مثنوى معنوى
مثنوى

Creator:

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, Maulana
جلال الدين رومى, مولانا

Contributor:

Abdülhamid II, Sultan of the Turks, former owner
Ḥusayn ibn Qāsim al-Ṣafavī al-Ḥusaynī, former owner
حسين بن قاسم الصفوى الحسينى, مالك سابق

Date:

[1495].

Description:

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 294Origin: As appears in colophon on fol.353a (p.705), transcription finished in Rabīʻ I "shahr Mawlid al-Nabī" 901 [Nov-Dec 1495].Binding: Pasteboards covered in fine dark brown leather; Type II binding (with flap) ; doublures in light brown leather ; upper and lower covers feature a large rectangular central field with intricate, repeating geometrical/vegetal pattern, bordered by a relatively narrow frame ; frame contains a series of small panels, in which elements of the central pattern are featured ; pattern continues onto flap ; doublures feature a central medallion with two smaller pendants and corner pieces, all with filigree design over a background of lapis lazuli and outlined in gold paint ; edges of textblock gold-flecked and carry gold-painted vegetal decoration ; sewn in white thread, two stations ; endbands in green and gold ; in very poor condition with lower cover completely detached at spine, front cover and flap both on the verge of detaching, though decoration is in good shape ; evidence of made endpapers in red marbled paper, now removed ; housed in box for protection.Support: non-European (Persian) laid paper with 8 laid lines per cm. (vertical) and no chain lines visible ; lightly burnished ; relatively thin ; in good condition with some repairs and reinforcements.Decoration: Fine illuminated headpieces (ʻunwān/ʻanāwīn) found at the openings of each of the six books of the work (pp.4-5, 116, 214, 350, 458, 576) ; illuminated marginal decoration surrounds the prose dībāchah (pp.2-3) with lapis lazuli frame filled with a repeating, rectilinear vegetal pattern in gold, white, black, turquoise, and red and tīghs executed in blue ; frontispiece at the opening of the first book carries the first verses set apart in a double-page illumination with exquisite decoration matching the style of the dībāchah pages, but more elaborate ; aside from initial folia, written area surrounded by heavy gold frame and outermost blue fillet ; chapter headings often rubricated or chrysographed and set in cloud-bands of pink and yellow (gold?) cross-hatching ; text of dībāchah and colophon chrysographed.Script: Naskh ; headings and text of opening pages (dībāchah) done in tawqīʻ.Layout: Written in 21 lines per page ; incipit and facing page in 18 lines per page ; verses in frontispiece for opening book in 7 lines per page ; written area divided mainly into four columns, except on the initial pages of each book, which feature only a single column.Collation: i, III+2 (8), 9 V(98), IV+1 (107), 24 V(347), IV-2 (353), ii ; chiefly quinions, with one anomalous ternion and two anomalous quaternions ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during cataloguing.Colophon: "Scribal," in Arabic, reads: "تم الکتاب المثنوی المعنوی المولوی بحمد الله و منه في شهر مولود النبی علیه السلام سنه احدي وتسعمایه الهجریه"Explicit: "قصه کوته کن که رفتم در حجاب هین خمش و الله اعلم بالصواب"Incipit: "هذا کتاب المثنوی وهو اصول اصول اصول [كذا] الدین فی کشف اسرار الوصول والیقین ..."Title from opening (p.2).Ms. codex.Exquisite copy of Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī's didactic poetical work in double verses. Description provided by Derek Mancini-Lander.

Language:

Persian

Type (Narrower):

Manuscripts

Type (Broader):

Text

Subject:

Manuscripts, Persian
Persian poetry 747-1500.
Masnavis, Persian Early works to 1800.
Sufi poetry, Persian Early works to 1800.

Time period:

747-1500

Extent:

353 leaves : paper ; 215 x 140 (50-140 x 55-100) mm. bound to 220 x 135 mm.

Rights:

Public Domain

Format:

Book
Manuscript/Archive
Online
Print

Same as:

https://search.lib.umich.edu/catalog/record/006812941

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