The volume is
A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English; with a Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations, by John Richardson, of the Middle Temple and Wadham College, Oxford. Revised and improved by Charles Wilkins. This new edition has been enlarged by Francis Johnson. The volume was printed by J. L. Cox, London, 1829.The volume begins with a preface (folios 7-8), followed by the dissertation (folios 9-40), proofs and illustrations (folios 41-49), and an advertisement on pronunciation and verb forms (folios 50-51). The dictionary is Arabic and Persian to English, arranged alphabetically according to the Arabic and Persian alphabets. At the back of the volume are corrections and additions (folio 908).1 volume (908 folios)The dictionary is arranged alphabetically, according to the Arabic and Persian alphabets.Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 910; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
The volume contains enclosures to despatches, and abstracts of contents of despatches, from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the East India Company Secret Committee.The volume is divided into eight items:Removal of the Embargo Placed on the Vessels of the Shaikh of Kishm [Shaikh of Qishm] Visiting India (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 2-46)The Assistant to the Resident in the Persian Gulf Volunteering to Serve with the British and Turkish Troops in Syria during his Unexpired Sick Leave, and the Transmission of Mail to London via Bagdad and Constantinople [Istanbul] (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 47-57)The Pay and Allowances of Mr Powell during the Period he Acted as Clerk and Purser to the Euphrates Expedition (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 58-64)Abstract of Contents of a Despatch Relating to the Steam Flotilla on River Indus (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 65-72)Aden, Mocha, and Tajoura Affairs (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 73-161)Persian Gulf Affairs (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 162-381)Affairs in India and Elsewhere (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 382-731)Mission to the King of Shoa [Shewa] (IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 732-735).There is a note on folio 59 stating that enclosures to Bombay Secret Letter No. 3, dated 29 January 1841, are not included in the collection [volume].1 volume (737 folios)The enclosures to each despatch within the volume are divided by blue dividers (however there is no blue divider between IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 58-64 and IOR/L/PS/5/391, ff 65-72). The sets of enclosures to despatches are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume. The enclosures within each despatch are preceded by an abstract of contents, in which the despatch itself (not included) is numbered 1, the abstract of contents 2, and the enclosures 3, 4, etc. The numbers listed in the abstract of contents are recorded for reference on the last verso of each enclosure, along with the original reference, and a description of each enclosure.Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 739; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Historical account of Afghan wars, 1838-1919, between the states of Kabul and Kandahar against the British invaders, written by Munshī ʻAbd al-Karīm, a companion of Shāh Shujāʻ al-Mulk, the Amir of Afghanistan. Muḥārabah-ʼi Kābul va Qandahar (The war of Kabul and Kandahar) is an account of the First Afghan War (1839-42) by Munshi ʻAbd al-Karīm, an associate of Shāh Shujāʻ, the emir of Afghanistan. Mawlawī Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Karīm was an Indo-Persian historian from Lucknow, India, who was active in the mid-19th century. He was a prolific munshi (writer, secretary, and language teacher) and translator. He rendered into Persian from Arabic such works as Tārīkh al-Khulafā (History of the Caliphs), by al-Sūyūtī (1445-1505) and a history of Egypt by Ibn Iyās (1448-circa 1524). He also completed an abridged translation of the biographical dictionary, Wafayāt al-aʻyān wa anbāʾ abnāʾ az-zamān (Deaths of eminent men and history of the sons of the epoch) by Ibn Khallikān (1211-82). Muḥārabah was written some time between 1848 and 1850. It discusses the war of the states of Kabul and Kandahar against the British East India Company and specifically against the British expedition of 1842 headed by General Pollock. Munshi ʻAbd al-Karīm later revised the original composition and added information from Akbarnāmah (Book of Akbar, a history of the third Mughal emperor) to produce the final version shown here, which was published in India in 1850. This book and the munshi's other contemporary historiographical text, Tārīkh-i Ahmadshāhī (History of the sultans of Delhi, in which he narrates the history of the Abdālīs, ancestors of the Durranis) were two of the major sources of the better known text of the Afghan history, Sirāj al-Tawārīkh (Lamp of history) by Fayz̤ Muḥammad (died 1931). Of Mawlawī ʻAbd al-Karīm's extensive oeuvre, three books exist in lithographic prints, including Muḥārabah. Lithographic printing was invented in Europe in the late 18th century and spread widely on the Indian subcontinent from the early 19th century onward, its popularity stemming from the relative ease with which it could be used to reproduce different scripts not based on the Latin alphabet. The new technology was so successful during the Raj that many more Persian lithographic books were printed in India than in Iran. World Digital Library.
This work is the first installment of Qiṣṣah-i Shams Ābād (Story of Shams Abad) by Qamar al-Din Akbar Abadi. The author was the editor of Asʻad al-akhbār (The most propitious news), an early Urdu periodical published at a printing house of the same name in Agra, India, in circa 1840. (The appellation Akbar Abadi refers to Akbar Abad, the name of Agra during the Mughal Empire.) Qamar al-Din was a scholar of hadith and Islamic history and had mastery of Persian as well as Arabic. He wrote several books, including Tārīkh-i ḥukamā' (The history of learned men), Lamaʻāt-i Qamar (Glimmers from the Moon, the title of which references the name of the author), Inshā'-i khirad afrūz (The wisdom illumining composition), and Muntakhabāt-i Būstān (Selections from the Būstān), which is a partial translation into Urdu of this well-known work of Persian literature. Qiṣṣah-i Shams Ābād does not appear to address overtly political themes and focuses instead on a group of landowners in the town of Shamsabad, located to the southeast of Agra. However, the timing of its publication in the years leading to the first Indian Rebellion of 1857 and references on the cover to the lieutenant governor of the Northwest Provinces as well as to the "visitor general" (i.e., the colonial inspector) lend the work a certain historical interest. The first installment of Qiṣṣah-i Shams Ābād was printed at the Asʻad al-akhbar printing press in an edition of 3,000 copies. World Digital Library.
Biographical sketches and specimen of the works of Indian, Afghani and Central Asian writers from early times. Taz̲kirah-i gulzār-i Aʻẓam (The memorial known as the greatest flower meadow) is a biographical compendium of poets and their poetic output. It belongs to the taz̲kirah (memorial) genre of Persian and Indo-Persian literature. The author, Muḥammad Ghauth Khān, was born on the 29th of Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1239 AH (August 25, 1824) in Chennai, India, and was the last nawab of the Carnatic. In the introduction to Taz̲kirah, Muḥammad Ghauth Khān describes how, after writing an earlier biographical work, Ṣubḥ-i Vaṭan (Dawn of the homeland, completed in 1257 AH [1841-42]), he was eager to write a more comprehensive book, with more judiciously chosen poems for each poet. The resulting work was Taz̲kirah-i gulzār-i Aʻẓam, in which the title refers both to the genre and its author (Aʻẓam, meaning "greatest," was the takhalluṣ or pen name of the author). The gulzār (meadow) in the title refers to the collection of poets included in the work. The title is also a chronogram that references the date it was published. Taz̲kirah-i gulzār-i Aʻẓam consists of the biographical entries for 141 poets arranged alphabetically by the takhalluṣ of each poet. (The author's earlier work, Ṣubḥ-i Vaṭan, has 90 entries.) The entries here include biographical information as well as samples of each poet's work. The poets are generally from the Indian subcontinent, though on occasion they are listed as having moved to India from Persia, as, for example, in the entry for Vālih, or Muḥammad Musavī, which lists Khurāsān as his home. The work is in Persian, the literary language of India during the Mughal and ensuing eras. This edition was printed in 1272 AH (1855-56) at the Sarkāṛī printing press (likely in Rampur, India). Muḥammad's father, Nawab Aʻẓam Jāh, died shortly after his son's birth, but Muḥammad did not assume power until he was installed as nawab by British colonial administrators in 1842. Prior to this, his uncle, Prince 'Aẓīm Jāh Bahādur, acted as regent. ('Aẓīm Jāh Bahādur is listed in the Taz̲kirah-i gulzār-i Aʻẓam under the takhalluṣ Naẓīr and his entry describes a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina as well as him founding a school for Muslim students.) Muḥammad Ghauth Khān died childless in October 1855. Rather than have power revert to 'Aẓīm Jāh Bahādur, the British East India Company chose to annex the Carnatic kingdom, thus ending the rule of the nawabs of the Carnatic. World Digital Library.