[IO Islamic 3259] شاهنامه

Shâhnâma.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 865 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, 2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1, number 3259  here with notations and hyperlinks].

865

The same.

The Bâisungharî preface, on fol. 1a. Beginning of the poem, on fol. 10b. It is divided into four books, which agree in their contents entirely with those in the preceding copy, except that Books II and III (beginning on fol. 144b) are not separated here. Book IV begins on fol. 338b. Small blanks on many pages, apparently left for the insertion of headings or pictures. Book I (جلد اوّل) is dated A.H. 1111, the 16th of Ṣafar (called here the 44th year of ‘Âlamgîr’s reign)=A.D. 1699, August 13; Book IV, the 8th of Dhû-alḥijjah, in the same year=A.D. 1700, May 27, by Muḥammad Ḥiṣârî.

The first two leaves are supplied by another hand, perhaps by Warren Hastings, whose name appears at the top of the preface.

No. 3259, olim 11. J. 5, ff. 427, 4 coll. Each ll. 25, and a fifth on the margin, ll. 40; Nasta’lîḳ; size, 113/4 in. by 71/8 in.