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 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.
This manuscript contains al-Makkūdī (d. 1404)'s commentary on one of the most popular Arabic grammatical works, the Alfīyah of Ibn Mālik, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd Allāh, d. 1274 Ibn Mālik (d. 1274) . The exceptional importance of this manuscript resides in the fact that it has preserved marginalia and commentaries written by its owner, Erpenius, Thomas, 1584-1624 Thomas Erpenius , Dutch Orientalist and author of the first scientific grammar of Arabic written in Europe. The Arabic text of al-Makkūdī is interleaved with folios containing Erpenius annotations, which provide important information about the way Arabic was studied in Modern Europe, and also about Erpenius' relationship with the Morisco Aḥmad ibn Qāsim al-Ḥājarī, with whom he read al-Makkūdī's work.Layout: 28 lines to the pageScript: Main text in Maghribi script in brown ink. Marginal notes in European nask, brown ink.
This work is a gloss on the second part of Ḥall mushkilāt al-Ishārāt , that is, 'The Resolution of difficult issues in the Ishārāt' , which is a commentary by Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d.1274) on the Ishārāt wa-al-tanbīhāt (“Pointers and Reminders”) by Avicenna (d.428/1037) Avicenna, 980-1037 , in response to the commentary on the same work by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1209) Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar, 1149 or 50-1210 الرازي، فخر الدين محمد بن عمر . Avicenna’s original work is divided into two parts; the first part which deals with logic consists of ten chapters called nahj (a path) نهج and the second part is also divided into ten chapters called namaṭ (a mode or manner of acting)نمط. Being the last philosophical compendium of Avicenna, the Ishārāt received special attention by later Avicennian philosophers, as is evidenced by a great number of commentaries and glosses written on this work from the 6/12th century onward. Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s commentary created a platform for more sophisticated discussions. The present gloss can be attributed to Quṭb al-Shīrāzī (d. 1310 or 11), a pupil of Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d. 1274). This manuscript is a gloss on Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, 1201-1274 Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī الطوسي، ناصر الدين محمد بن محمد 's commentary, and not a commentary by him (as the title page would have it), most probably by his well-known student Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī (d.710/1311) or by one of his students. This anonymous collated manuscript, copied in Cairo in Ramaḍān 760/1359 by an Iranian scribe in an informal serifless taʿlīq script, appears to be unique (so far no other copy of this text has been located). It provides yet another proof of the importance of the text of Avicenna not only in Iran but also in the Arab world.Layout: 21 lines to the pageScript: A very early example of taʿlīq scriptAdditions: Catchwords on every verso pageBinding: Rebacked old full-leather Islamic binding with small central decoration (Mamlūk?)