Author Shīr ʻAlī Khān Lūdī (fl. 1657–90) completed his Mirʼāt al-Khayāl (Mirror of the Imagination) in 1102 AH (1690–91 CE) according to a chronogram in the final line. It comprises an encyclopedia encompassing the lives and works of 136 poets — including fifteen female authors — interspersed with treatises on varied topics such as literature, music, medicine, physics, and ethics. When he served in Bengal, the Mughal Prince Shāh Shuja‘ (d. 1661) employed the author's father, 'Alī Amjad Khān (d. 1673–74), which allowed his son to study there under the poet Faraḥ Ḥusayn Nāẓim (d. ca. 1653–64) before Mughal nobleman and Fawjdār of Dehli, Sayyid Shukrallāh Khān, in 1090 AH (1679–80 CE), employed him, hence this work documents him and many authors whom he knew personally. While the colophon does not indicate when and where the scribe copied this manuscript, it appears likely finished in India, using British paper handmade in Kent dated 1814 and 1817, hence it must date after then.
Text in good condition.
Possibly bound in Calcutta (Kolkata) in a European manner for probable former owner Turner Macan (1792–1836).
Sewn on three cords laced into the pasteboards, without a flap and with squares along the edges. European front bead endbands, possibly in white, red, and blue silk threads at head and tail. Half-bound, tight-backed, in red-brown goatskin leather over pasteboards with predominantly indigo blue, likely British-manufactured, Stormont-patterned marbled paper sides, with endpapers of British paper, the right flyleaf (f. i) watermarked "Balston & Co" of papermaker William Balston (1759–1849) at Springfield Mill in Maidstone, Kent, while the left flyleaf (f. ii) bears the corresponding opposite portion of the same insignia.
Blind tooled rope designs with a decorative wheel on the boards. Gilt panel bands with a double-line pallete and decorative palette at head and tail. Titled in handle letters "TUSKIRREH LODI".Binding height: 257 mm, width: 200 mm, depth: 33 mm.
Binding in good condition, but with restricted opening to the gutters. The original first flyleaf appears cut out.Paginated on the upper corners in black Hindu-Arabic numerals, which commence with the incipit, so spanning pages 1A to 359, but thereafter reverts backwards by four, from 356A to 465.
Albeit unsigned, evidently acquired by Persian interpreter for the British East India Company, Turner Macan (1792–1836). The title "Tuskereh Lodi" appears in a catalogue of his oriental manuscripts that his family sold through Robert Harding Evans (1777–1857) in London on 12 Dec. 1838 (p. 18, lot 376). Not only does the marginalia comport with Macan's hand as found in his other manuscripts, but the style of half binding, spattered edges, and endbands also appear similar to some of his other volumes, and the label remnants that remain on the compare with others sold by Evans.
Probably purchased at Evan's sale by bookseller Thomas Rodd Jr. (1796–1849) purchased it for 2 shillings and sixpence.
Probably sold by Rodd to orientalist William Cureton (1808–1864), who signed the second left flyleaf b side (f. iib).
Subsequently acquired by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865), after whose death London antiquarian bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993. Identification of provenance based on manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s.
Manuscript description completed by James White in 2017.
Record subsequently ammended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2021 with reference to the volume.
First released on Fihrist in 2014. Expanded version with digital facsimilie released on MDC
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Text in good condition.
Possibly bound in Calcutta (Kolkata) in a European manner for probable former owner Turner Macan (1792–1836).
Sewn on three cords laced into the pasteboards, without a flap and with squares along the edges. European front bead endbands, possibly in white, red, and blue silk threads at head and tail. Half-bound, tight-backed, in red-brown goatskin leather over pasteboards with predominantly indigo blue, likely British-manufactured, Stormont-patterned marbled paper sides, with endpapers of British paper, the right flyleaf (f. i) watermarked "Balston & Co" of papermaker William Balston (1759–1849) at Springfield Mill in Maidstone, Kent, while the left flyleaf (f. ii) bears the corresponding opposite portion of the same insignia.
Blind tooled rope designs with a decorative wheel on the boards. Gilt panel bands with a double-line pallete and decorative palette at head and tail. Titled in handle letters "TUSKIRREH LODI".Binding height: 257 mm, width: 200 mm, depth: 33 mm.
Binding in good condition, but with restricted opening to the gutters. The original first flyleaf appears cut out.Paginated on the upper corners in black Hindu-Arabic numerals, which commence with the incipit, so spanning pages 1A to 359, but thereafter reverts backwards by four, from 356A to 465.
Albeit unsigned, evidently acquired by Persian interpreter for the British East India Company, Turner Macan (1792–1836). The title "Tuskereh Lodi" appears in a catalogue of his oriental manuscripts that his family sold through Robert Harding Evans (1777–1857) in London on 12 Dec. 1838 (p. 18, lot 376). Not only does the marginalia comport with Macan's hand as found in his other manuscripts, but the style of half binding, spattered edges, and endbands also appear similar to some of his other volumes, and the label remnants that remain on the compare with others sold by Evans.
Probably purchased at Evan's sale by bookseller Thomas Rodd Jr. (1796–1849) purchased it for 2 shillings and sixpence.
Probably sold by Rodd to orientalist William Cureton (1808–1864), who signed the second left flyleaf b side (f. iib).
Subsequently acquired by scholar Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865), after whose death London antiquarian bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) sold his oriental manuscripts to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) in 1866.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993. Identification of provenance based on manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s.
Manuscript description completed by James White in 2017.
Record subsequently ammended and enhanced by Jake Benson in 2021 with reference to the volume.