880-03 Kitāb-i Qirān-i saʻdayn, [984, i.e. 1576] 880-02 Qirān al-saʻdayn

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Library, Isl. Ms. 312 Origin: As appears in colophon on p.59, copied by Jamāl Shāh Maḥmūd with transcription completed Ṣafar 984 [May 1576]. Former shelfmark: "462 T. De M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" inscribed in pencil on interior of upper cover. Binding: Pasteboards covered in light brown leather ; Type III binding (without flap, but not flush with text block) ; pastedowns and flyleaves in untinted wove paper ; upper and lower covers carry tooled border (blind rules) ; sewn in dark purple thread, two stations ; overall in fair condition with some staining and minor abrasion. Support: non-European (likely Persian or Indian) laid paper with 6-7 laid lines per cm. (vertical, fairly distinct) and any chain lines not clearly visible, transluscent, sturdy, quite well-burnished, dark cream in color ; flyleaves in wove paper (indistinct embossed mark in front flyleaf). Decoration: Illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) at opening on p.2 consisting of large rectangular piece with gold cartouche carrying the title ( "كتاب قران سعدين" ) and swirling vegetal design in white with floral motifs in pink, yellow, and red, flanked by floral vegetal design in gold on fields of blue, entire piece surrounded by bands of red, gold and blue and surmounted by vertical stalks (tīgh) in blue ; written area surrounded by frame consisting of a narrow gold band defined by black fillets and red and blue rules, narrow gold bands separate the four columns within as well ; headings and keywords rubricated. Script: Nastaʻlīq ; elegant hand ; serifless, with effect of words descending to baseline, closed counters, and elongated horizontal strokes, pointing in distinct dots. Layout: Written in 17 lines per page with written area divided into four columns ; frame-ruled. Collation: i, III (6), V (16), II (20), i ; ternion, quinion and binion ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization. Colophon: "Scribal," triangular, in Arabic, reads "تمت الكتاب بعون الملك الوهاب بتاريخ شهر صفر سنه ۹۸۴ كاتبه جمال شاه محمود م م م" Explicit: "بر در شه خدمت من و السلام" Incipit: "حمد گویم که توفیق خداوند حنان ... نام این نسخۀ و الاست قران سعدین ... حمد خداوند سرایم نخست تا شود این نامه بنامش درست ..." Title from illuminated headpiece at opening (p.2). Ms. codex. Cat. Pers. MSS. Brit. Mus., p.611 f. Elegant copy of the mas̲navī on the meeting of Sulṭān Muʻizz al-Dīn Kayqubād and his father Nāṣir al-Dīn Bughrā Khān by Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī (d.1325). Purchase ; Acquired by purchase (funds donated by Horace Rackham). 1924. Persian. Effaced ownership statement and seal impression on p.40 along with other notes and excerpts ; relatively clean copy.