Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Manuscript. Persian. Title based on comparison with other copies. Scribe not identified. Gift of Cyrus Ebrahim Zadeh, Nov. 9, 2009. Written in Iran? Paper: yellowish, polished cream color laid paper with vertical chain line and no visible watermarks; black ink; catchwords. Folio 59 on modern paper, with inscription in purple ink, dated 29/9/1332 [December 1, 1953]. Nastaʻliq; 12 lines in written area 11 x 7 cm. Folio 1a-131b (incomplete). Library of Congress. Manuscript, [unnumbered]. Binding: Modern cardboard with gray stone motif.
Manuscript. Persian; first 67 leaves have Turkish translation and there is a brief poem in Ottoman Turkish at end. Title based on comparison with printed editions of Saʻdī's Gulistān. Name of scribe not indicated. Probably written in Iran. Paper; cream color lightly polished laid paper with horizontal chain lines and no visible watermarks; black ink with rubrication; manuscript is incomplete lacking an unknown number of leaves at the beginning; leaves 1a-67b have interlinear Turkish translation and extensive marginal notes; catchwords. Nastaʻliq; 13 lines in written area Fol. 1a-134a, 2 leaves. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript. Contemporary brown leather binding with embossed center medallions.
Manuscript. Persian. Title determined by comparison with editions of Saʻdī's Gulistān. Written by ʻAbd al-Bārī Muḥammad Maḥmūd Lārī. Probably written in Iran. Date from colophon written in pencil in a later hand. Paper: cream colored lighly polished laid paper with no visible chain-lines or watermarks; unwan in gold, blue, red, white and green; text enclosed blue and gold ruled border; black ink with rubrication; some marginal corrections; catchwords on rectos. Nastaʻliq; 11 lines in written area 11.5 x 5.7 cm. Fol. 1b-160a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M83. Contemporary dark brown leather envelope binding with elaborate gold embossed design covering most of the front and back covers and flap. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website. Explicit/Colophon: ... كتبه العبد البارى محمد محمود لاري عفو عنه.
Manuscript. Persian. Title supplied from container. Scribe not identified. Written in India? Paper; thin, lightly polished laid paper with vertical laid lines and no visible chain lines or watermarks; elaborate floral carpet page in blue, gold, pink, and black surrounded by three borders: the outer of a gold floral design, the next of a repeating design in blue and gold and the inner of a floral design of repeating flowers in alternating rose and pink on a gold background; remainder of text has outer ruled bord of thin blue, white, gold, red and dark blue; text block within ruled border in blue, white, red, blue, a wider floral border and an inner border of blue and red; sections separated by a horizontal block in gold; hemistichs divided by a wide dark blue vertical divider with gold highlighting; black ink; catchwords. Nastaʻlīq; 15 lines in written area 13 x 6.2 cm. Numerous miniatures throughout the text. Fol. 1b-466b (incomplete) Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M19. Binding; disbound; text block and many pages loose in remainder of binding which is brown leather; spine lacking. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
Son of a Scottish military adventurer and a woman of the Indian martial nobility, James Skinner (1778-1841) became a famous soldier with his private regiment Skinner Horse, which still continues in the Indian Army. He was a fluent writer in Persian, the prestige language of India in his day, and composed his "Kitab-i tasrih al-aqvam" (History of the Origin and Distinguishing Marks of the Different Castes of India), given by James S. Collins of Pennsylvania to the Rosenwald Collection. The castes presented here are Khattris, nobles who converted from Hinduism to Islam and who function as lawyers and judges. This particular Khattri seems comfortable and benevolent, and is blessed with a son or student fiercely attentive to his dictation. The style is of the Company School, paintings made by local artists combining Mogul traditions with a minute realism to record people and natural history for staff members of the British East India Company which was taking over India.