Mirʼāt al-Khayāl (Persian MS 316)
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.
Information about this document
- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Persian Manuscripts
- Classmark: Persian MS 316
- Alternative Identifier(s): Bibliotheca Lindesiana Shelf Mark: 2/F; Bland 536
- Title: Mirʼāt al-Khayāl
- Subject(s): Poets, Persian--Biography
- Origin Place: Calcutta (Kolkata)
- Date of Creation: after 1817 CE
- Language(s): Persian
- Note(s): The explicit contains a clever chronogram explained by scholar and former owner of this manuscript Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865) in his 1848 essay (see p. 142). Bland explains how by 'withdrawing the veil from the mirror of imagigation' the author instructs one to subtract the numerical euqivalent of the word pardah (veil), or 211, from the title of the work that totals 1313, it yields 1102 AH (1690–91 CE) as the as the date of completion. This manuscript appears complete, albeit with variations in comparison to the lithograph edition published in Bombay (Mumbai) by Muḥammad Malik al-Kuttāb Shīrāzī in 1324 AH (1906 CE). For full descriptions of the content, see Rieu and Sachau and Ethé's catalogues.
- Extent: 470 pages, 2 flyleaves (pp. i + 470 + i), albeit mismarked (see foliation below). Leaf height: 245 mm, width: 185 mm. Written height: 210 mm, width: 110 mm.
- Collation: Undetermined. Catchwords throughout on the lower-left corners of the b sides.
- Material(s): Handmade paper; Handmade paper
- Format: Codex
- Condition:
Text in good condition.
- Binding:
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. - Script:Pages 1–263:Primarily written in clear, refined black nasta'līq with the names of poets, Arabic passages, and chapter headings in the margins in red.Pages 264–465:Written in a comparatively hasty black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures, also with names of poets, Arabic passages, and chapter headings in the margins in red.
- Foliation:
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.
- Layout: 1 column throughout. Number of lines varies. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
- Additions:
Table of Contents: An incomplete list written in Persian in a different hand on both sides of what is now the first right flyleaf a and b sides (f. 1b), spans only pages 14 to 462.
Marginalia: Notes written in the margins throughout in various hands, in both black ink and pencil; the latter comports with comments found in other manuscripts formerly owned by Turner Macan.
Inscription: The left flyleaf b side (f. iib) signed by former owner William Cureton .
Bookplates:Left paste-down: "Bibliotheca Lindesiana" with shelfmark "2/F", and "Bland MSS No. 536". - Origin: Probably completed in Calcutta (Kolkata); undated, but after 1817 CE as per Wilmott's dated watermark.
- Provenance:
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).
- Acquisition:
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
- Date of Acquisition: 1908
- Funding: Iran Heritage Foundation and The John Rylands Research Institute; The Soudavar Foundation
- Data Source(s):
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.
- Author(s) of the Record: Jake Benson, Julian Cook, James White, Andrew Morrison, James Cummings, Yasmin Faghihi.
- Excerpts:Incipit: برگ ۱پ (page 1): ای ز تو بند بر زبان نطق سخن سرای را * فکر تو باعث جنون عقل گره گشای را.Explicit: صفحهی ۴۶۵ (page 465): صورت تاریخ اتمامش توان بیضرده دید * گر تامل پرده بردارد زمرآت الخیال.Colophon: صفحهی ۴۶۵ (page 465): تمام شد نسخه مرآت الخیال من تصنیف شیر خان لودی.
- Bibliography:View the record for this manuscript on Fihrist.Nathaniel Bland, 'On the earliest Persian Biography of Poets, by Muhammad Aúfi, and on some other Works of the class called Tazkirat ul Shuârá', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IX. (1848): pp. 140–142, no. V.Shīr ʻAlī Khān Lūdī, Taz̲kirah-ʼi Mirʼat al-Khayal.BombayMuḥammad Malik al-Kuttāb Shīrāzī, 1324 AH (1906–1907 CE).Shīr ʻAlī Khān Lūdī, Taz̲kirah-ʼi Mirʼat al-Khayal.TehranRawzanah, 1377 AP (1998–1999 CE).D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 444, no. 1693.C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), pp. 369–371 [British Library Or. 231, Add. 16724, 16725, and 16729].E. Sachau and Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), cols. 207–211, no. 374 [Ouseley Add 2 and Elliott 397].
First released on Fihrist in 2014. Expanded version with digital facsimilie released on MDC
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- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Persian Manuscripts
- Classmark: Persian MS 316
- Alternative Identifier(s): Bibliotheca Lindesiana Shelf Mark: 2/F; Bland 536
- Title: Mirʼāt al-Khayāl
- Subject(s): Poets, Persian--Biography
- Origin Place: Calcutta (Kolkata)
- Date of Creation: after 1817 CE
- Language(s): Persian
- Note(s): The explicit contains a clever chronogram explained by scholar and former owner of this manuscript Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865) in his 1848 essay (see p. 142). Bland explains how by 'withdrawing the veil from the mirror of imagigation' the author instructs one to subtract the numerical euqivalent of the word pardah (veil), or 211, from the title of the work that totals 1313, it yields 1102 AH (1690–91 CE) as the as the date of completion. This manuscript appears complete, albeit with variations in comparison to the lithograph edition published in Bombay (Mumbai) by Muḥammad Malik al-Kuttāb Shīrāzī in 1324 AH (1906 CE). For full descriptions of the content, see Rieu and Sachau and Ethé's catalogues.
- Extent: 470 pages, 2 flyleaves (pp. i + 470 + i), albeit mismarked (see foliation below). Leaf height: 245 mm, width: 185 mm. Written height: 210 mm, width: 110 mm.
- Collation: Undetermined. Catchwords throughout on the lower-left corners of the b sides.
- Material(s): Handmade paper; Handmade paper
- Format: Codex
- Condition:
Text in good condition.
- Binding:
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. - Script:Pages 1–263:Primarily written in clear, refined black nasta'līq with the names of poets, Arabic passages, and chapter headings in the margins in red.Pages 264–465:Written in a comparatively hasty black nasta‘līq with shikastah ligatures, also with names of poets, Arabic passages, and chapter headings in the margins in red.
- Foliation:
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.
- Layout: 1 column throughout. Number of lines varies. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
- Additions:
Table of Contents: An incomplete list written in Persian in a different hand on both sides of what is now the first right flyleaf a and b sides (f. 1b), spans only pages 14 to 462.
Marginalia: Notes written in the margins throughout in various hands, in both black ink and pencil; the latter comports with comments found in other manuscripts formerly owned by Turner Macan.
Inscription: The left flyleaf b side (f. iib) signed by former owner William Cureton .
Bookplates:Left paste-down: "Bibliotheca Lindesiana" with shelfmark "2/F", and "Bland MSS No. 536". - Origin: Probably completed in Calcutta (Kolkata); undated, but after 1817 CE as per Wilmott's dated watermark.
- Provenance:
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).
- Acquisition:
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
- Date of Acquisition: 1908
- Funding: Iran Heritage Foundation and The John Rylands Research Institute; The Soudavar Foundation
- Data Source(s):
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.
- Author(s) of the Record: Jake Benson, Julian Cook, James White, Andrew Morrison, James Cummings, Yasmin Faghihi.
- Excerpts:Incipit: برگ ۱پ (page 1): ای ز تو بند بر زبان نطق سخن سرای را * فکر تو باعث جنون عقل گره گشای را.Explicit: صفحهی ۴۶۵ (page 465): صورت تاریخ اتمامش توان بیضرده دید * گر تامل پرده بردارد زمرآت الخیال.Colophon: صفحهی ۴۶۵ (page 465): تمام شد نسخه مرآت الخیال من تصنیف شیر خان لودی.
- Bibliography:View the record for this manuscript on Fihrist.Nathaniel Bland, 'On the earliest Persian Biography of Poets, by Muhammad Aúfi, and on some other Works of the class called Tazkirat ul Shuârá', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IX. (1848): pp. 140–142, no. V.Shīr ʻAlī Khān Lūdī, Taz̲kirah-ʼi Mirʼat al-Khayal.BombayMuḥammad Malik al-Kuttāb Shīrāzī, 1324 AH (1906–1907 CE).Shīr ʻAlī Khān Lūdī, Taz̲kirah-ʼi Mirʼat al-Khayal.TehranRawzanah, 1377 AP (1998–1999 CE).D. N. Marshall, Mughals in India: A Bibliographical Survey. Vol. 1. Manuscripts (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1962), p. 444, no. 1693.C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I (London: British Museum, 1879), pp. 369–371 [British Library Or. 231, Add. 16724, 16725, and 16729].E. Sachau and Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindûstani, and Pushtû manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), cols. 207–211, no. 374 [Ouseley Add 2 and Elliott 397].
