Manuscript. Persian. Title supplied by cataloger. Colophon: ʻAbd al-Rashīd al-Daylamī. Written in India. Paper; thick, cream color oriental paper; black ink; decorated unwan on fol. 1b in blue and gold; six lines to the page; text of each line in text-box alternatingly aligned right and left; entire text within an outer gold border near the page edges; and a second smaller gold border surrounding the text proper; each text line is separated be a blank space within the borders defined by the text boxes; catchwords on rectos. Nastaʼliq; 6 lines in written area 13.5 x 9.2 cm. Folios 1b-14b. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript [number]. Modern tan leather binding with center medallions back and front; remains of original binding preserved in box with manuscript. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website. Explicit/Colophon: حرره عبد الرشيد الديلمي.
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site. Manuscript. Persian and Arabic. Title supplied by cataloger. Gift of Cyrus Ebrahim Zadeh, Nov. 9, 2009. Written in India? Paper: yellowish, polished cream color commercial paper with no visible watermarks; black ink; catchwords. Naskh; 15 lines in written area 15 x 9 cm. Folio 1b-119b. Library of Congress. Manuscript, [unnumbered]. Binding: brown leather, spine repaired, rebacked in Morocco leather. With: Kirmānī, Muḥammad Karīm Khān. Kitāb-i mustaṭāb-i Sulṭānīyah. Bumbay : Dādūmiyān Dahāyilī, 1277 [1861]. Bound together subsequent to publication.
This treatise discusses different aspects of the art of versification, including meters, verses, letters, syllables, patterns of rhythm, and other topics relating to the poetic arts in early modern Persian poetry. The author, who is identified on folio 2, Mahmud ibn ʻUmar al-Najati al-Nisaburi (died 1328), is also known as Hamid al-Din Mahmud bin ʻUmar Nijati Nishapuri. No information exists about his place and date of birth or about his death. He is known to have produced a translation of and commentary on Tārīkh-i Utubi, also known as Tārīkh-i Yamīnī (History of Yamini), an early 11th-century courtly chronicle recounting the political and military events of the early Ghaznavid sultans, especially of Sultan Mahmud (died 1030). Where and when this manuscript was made are unclear, but its calligraphic style and clear prose nastaʻliq script suggest that it could have been written in the 15th-16th centuries somewhere in the Persianate world, e.g., India, Afghanistan, Iran, or somewhere in Islamic Central Asia. The manuscript is organized around a five-line eulogistic note (folio 1) praising and thanking God, an eight-page preface (folios 1-8), and the main contents. In the preface, the author discusses Persian poetry and the usefulness of a treatise on Persian prosody, briefly touching upon the names and works of earlier prosodists, such as the 12th century al-Ustad al-Mutarzi al-Ganji (folios 4-5). He also mentions the relationship between holidays and festivities, such as Nawruz (Persian New Year) and the Islamic festival of Eid, and the composition of poetry. The main contents start on folio 9. The first two poetic verses discussed (folios 9-15 and 16-17) are from a famous longer qasidah (poem) of al-Ustad al-Murtarzi al-Ganji (also known as Qavami Ganjavai), said to exemplify the composition of a studious, elegant, and meaningful qasidah and the technical and conceptual contents of the first two lines of a long poem (referred to in Arabic and Persian poetic sciences as Husn-i Mutala-e and Nik Aghazi, (literally, "elegant beginning")). In addition to Husn-i Mutala-e, other technical aspects of prosody, such as meter and repetition, are discussed throughout the treatise. Although the work is written in Persian, the language is filled with dense Arabic grammar and vocabulary. All the poems discussed in the text have subheadings that appear in bold red font, indicating the author or the theme being discussed; the headings are always written in Arabic, while the discussion is in Persian. The paper is thin and light-cream colored. Chain lines run vertically and horizontally in a random manner throughout the text. The manuscript is written in black ink with rubrication; folio 1 is elaborately decorated in blue and gold. The writing is enclosed in thin gold borders edged in black. Two lines of an Ottoman Turkish poem appear at the end of the manuscript, although there is no evidence to suggest that these two lines are original; they might be a later addition, as might the title of the manuscript that appears on the flyleaf. There is no pagination. World Digital Library. Unnamed work on prosody by Maḥmūd ibn ʻUmar al-Najātī al-Nīsābūrī.
This manuscript in Persian is an untitled Sufi text on meditation containing both poetry and prose. It was completed in early 1520, probably in Herat (present-day Afghanistan) or Mashhad (present-day Iran). The colophon, which is in Arabic, gives the name of the scribe, Mīr 'Alī Ḥusaynī Haravī (circa 1476-1543). The manuscript is on a firm cream-colored paper inlaid into light cream (folios 1-8) or pale greenish-blue margin paper, with the writing enclosed within alternating gold and cream (or green) bands with black ruling. The margin paper is profusely decorated with floral and animal motifs. The text is in nastalīq script, eight lines to the page. The binding is contemporary leather with medallions. A former owner's stamp appears on folio 1a. Sufism, a mystical and introspective interpretation of Islam that emerged after the initial spread of the religion, combines Islamic teachings with gnosticism. The practice embraced the idea of enlightenment through spiritual knowledge, informed by pre-Islamic Greek, Zoroastrian, and Indian spiritual practices. By the 13th century, Sufi thought in the Persian-speaking world was expressed primarily through poetry or in poetic works of prose, such as this treatise. World Digital Library. Untitled Sufi text on meditation containing both poetry and prose.
Manuscript. Persian. Title supplied by cataloger. Scribe not identified. Written in Central Asia. Paper; lightly polished cream color laid paper with very faint horizontal chain lines on some pages and no visible watermarks; elaborate floral unwan in gold, blue and red with pinkish flowers; text enclosed in ruled border of blue, gold, red and blue; text is divided into hemistichs separated by wide columns which vary in color but are primarily reddish coral color; margins of all facing pages have floral designs in various colors which vary from page to page; black ink with elaborate section titles. Nastaʻliq; 14 lines in written area 15 x 7.5 cm. Fol. 1b-102a. Library of Congress. Persian manuscript, M39. Modern dark brown leather binding with embossed center medallions front and back. Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.