Folios

546; size 11⅜ by 6¼ inches; 27 lines; undated; small Nasta‘líq; ff405-447 supplied later by another hand; collations in some places; from Richard Johnson’s Collection in the Library of the East India Company; on a blank leaf is written in old English handwriting: “brought by Mr. R. Smith from Persia”; (as the handwriting of this Ms. is distinctly Indian in style, it is quite likely that this copy was once transported to Persia, and thence from India to the India Office Library*); amongst other endorsements there is one on f1a dated as early as 1073 A. H. = 1663 A. D., but to all appearance this Ms. was transcribed earlier than that date, therefore it is reckoned among the 16^th century A. D. Mss. in the Chronological Table. See Cat. Pers. Mss. Ind. Off. Lib., by Ethé, coll. 245-6.

This is the seventh complete Ms., but its textual value is very low, as on close examination it is found wanting in many respects. Not to speak of the diacritical points and numerous careless repetitions and omissions, proper names, difficult passages and Arabic and Persian verses are very badly copied; but the text is not distorted for purposes of elucidation.

As centuries pass the caligraphy and accuracy of the Mss. here listed deteriorate. All the 14^th century Mss. show archaic spellings and beautiful Naskh and are comparatively reliable transcripts, while the 15^th century Mss. though written in good Naskh are not so correct; in those of the 16th century Nasta‘líq is common and archaic spellings have completely disappeared and the texts are very inaccurate; while most of the later Mss. grow even worse from textual as well as caligraphic points of view.

The

second Petrograd Ms. is preserved in the Public Library. It is also undated and contains more than 408 folios and appears to be almost complete. Its textual value is determined, firstly, from the three anecdotes exclusively copied from this Ms. in the Turkistán pp. 88-9 = Jawámi‘ (A. f85b. I. xiii. 728), (A. f203b. I. xvi. 850) and (A. f207b. I. xvi. 905); secondly, from other extracts which are missing from it e.g. Turkistán pp. 100-101 = (D. f70b. IV. xvii. 1974); and thirdly from a comparison of its text with the corresponding portions in A. C. and D.. From the first point, it appears that it contains some additional anecdotes (e.g. 728) which have hitherto been exclusively found in A.. From the second point, it can indirectly be inferred that this Ms. either omits or has a lacuna of some anecdotes which are found in the oldest Mss. (e.g. 1974). From the last process, it is certain that at times this Ms. gives a shorter recension like B. and differs slightly in its readings from A. C. and D.; but on the whole it is a fairly good text and is worth a closer study; it probably belongs to the 16^th century A. D.

Folios

252; size 10½ by 7 inches; 22 lines; dated; cursive Nasta‘líq; acquired from the Cl. J. Rich Collection. See Cat. Pers. Mss. Br. Mus. Vol. II, p. 751.

This Ms. contains only Pts. III and IV and is well preserved and bears a comparatively accurate text which is helpful for the purposes of reference and collation.

The

third Petrograd Ms. is also in the Public Library. It is dated 1032 A. H. = 1622/3 A. D. and contains more than 396 folios which comprise all the four parts, but does not offer very valuable readings and appears to be a mediocre Ms.

Folios

533; size 12 by 7½ inches; 25 lines; illuminated frontispiece; Nasta‘líq; occasional notes and glosses on the margin; dated 1042 A. H. = 1632 A. D. At the end on f533a, there is added a description of Iṣfahán. See for other particulars Cat. Pers. Mss. Bodl. Lib., by Sachau and Ethé, col. 177, No. 325. Except for the Preface which is defective at the beginning, this is the tenth complete Ms., and is also amongst those collected by J. B. Elliott and now preserved in the Bodleian.

Folios

467; size 12¾ by 8 inches; 25 lines; Nasta‘líq; dated 1049 A. H. = 1639 A. D.. This is another Ms. of the J. B. Elliott collection among the 17^th century Mss. of the Jawámi‘. Except for a lacuna in the first part, it is the eleventh complete Ms., and like the other later ones is not worth much consideration. See Cat. Pers. Mss. Bodl. Lib. col. 177 No. 326.

Folios

404, ff35, 154, 338 are numbered twice, thus the total number of folios is really 407; size 15½ by 9½ inches; 25 lines; small legible Nasta‘líq; rubrications; colophon (f404a) dated 27^th Muḥarram 1059 A. H. = Jan.-Feb. 1649 A. D., copied by ‘Abdu’r-Raḥím b. Muḥammad Niyásarí* (sic); on f1a an endorsement by Prof. Browne: “From the Library of the late Sir Albert Houtum-Schindler. Bought from his heirs, January 5^th, 1917. Edward G. Browne”*. Contents: f1b-f214b, Pt. I. chs. i-xxv; f214b-f287b, Pt. II, chs. i-xxv; f287b-f349b, Pt. III, chs. i-xxv; f349b-f404a, Pt. IV, chs. i-v, vii-xxv (after f356b a few leaves are missing, so that there is a lacuna of chs. v, vi, vii; and f364b is left blank.; and 33 anecdotes are missing from the last chapter, after f404).

This apparently complete Ms. is defective in other respects also. In the body of the text, every now and then, a few anecdotes are found wanting, and the scribe has purposely omitted such anecdotes as contained the praiseworthy actions of the first three Caliphs (e.g. A. f170b. I. xii. 667; cf. P. f151a), has changed the author’s introduction to the chapter “On the Caliphs” Pt. I, v. f62a, and has altered the pious formulas according to Shí‘a belief. The textual value of this Ms. is very uncertain, as proper names, quotations and Arabic and Persian verses are very inaccurately transcribed. The present writer, through the admirable generosity of Prof. Browne, was enabled to work upon this Ms. for the last four years and has established the correct number and order of the anecdotes after comparing it with the 14^th century Mss. according to the Table of Contents. (Anecdotes missing from this Ms. are marked with an asterisk on the margin of this Ms.).

Folios

731; 12½ by 7⅜ inches; 23 lines; clear and distinct Nasta‘líq; dated 1061 A. H. = 1651 A. D.; written in Burhánpúr, India. Contents: Pt. I, begins on f8a; Pt. II, on f384a; Pt. III, on f505a; Pt. IV, on f612b. This is the twelfth complete Ms. among the ones described here, but like the following ones is mediocre.

Folios

425; size 12⅝ by 8 inches; 25 lines; Naskh; illuminated frontispiece; dated 1067 A. H. = 1657 A. D., Lahore. Contents Pt. I, begins on f1b; Pt. II, on f226a; Pt. III, on f291a; Pt. IV, on f357a. This is the thirteenth complete Ms., and bears the signature of Gore Ouseley on f1b at the top of the decorations.

Folios

478; size 12 by 8 inches; 18 lines; Nasta‘líq; undated. Contents: Pt. II, begins on f1b; Pt. III, on f157b; Pt. IV, on f310a.

Originally

294 folios, as is mentioned in Arabic numbers, but a few leaves are missing at present from the beginning and at the end; size 13⅛ by 7⅛ inches; 23 lines; Naskh; written on a dark brown paper; undated; but apparently of the 16^th or 17^th century A. D. This copy once belonged to Sir William Ouseley, as there are several notes in his hand on the fly-leaf. Among others one is important as it identifies his brother’s (viz. Gore Ouseley’s) Ms. which ultimately went over to the J. B. Elliott collection, and is described above as R., being the 22^nd Ms. in this Descriptive List. This Ms. is fragmentary and contains a major portion of the first part. It begins from the middle of the first chapter of the first part and goes on to the earlier portion of ch. xxi, where in the middle of f290a it abruptly starts with ch. xxv. It cannot be relied on for reference. (Cf. Ouseley’s Cat. Mss. etc. (1831), p. 16, No. 532).

Folios

251; size 280 by 173 mm.; 24 lines; undated; rubrications; margins; “good Indian Naskhí of about 1650 A. D.”; once in the Bland collection, No. 303, then transfered to the Crawford collection, No. 81, and now in the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Contents: (Pt. I completely missing); f1b-f134a, Pt. II. chs. i-xxv; f134b-224b, Pt. III, chs. i-xxv; f225b-251a, Pt. IV, chs. i-xi (defective). See Bibliotheca Lindesiana, (1898), p. 124.

The present writer is indebted to the courtesy of Dr. H. Guppy, the Chief Librarian of the John Rylands Library, and of Dr. A. Mingana for the above description. Like the other 17^th century group of Mss., it appears to contain an ordinary and unreliable text.

Folios

486; size 34.5 by 22 cm.; 27 lines; good Nasta‘líq; undated. Contents: Pt. I begins on f3; Pt. II, on f252b; Pt. III, on f332b; Pt. IV, on f410b. This is a complete but modern and mediocre Ms.

Folios

345; size 27 by 15 cm,; 19 lines; good Nasta‘líq; undated; contents: Pts. II-IV. This Ms. is similar to the one above-mentioned.

Folios

396; Nasta‘líq; undated; probably written in Turkey about the 18^th century; bought by Prof. Browne from Naaman; contents: Pt. I only. This Ms. is modern and the text is very unreliable.

This

is an unfinished, incomplete and undated Ms. written in beautiful small Nasta‘líq, probably in the 17^th or 18^th century A. D.. It contains the first 15 chapters of Pt. I, and other folios are left blank. The text as far as it goes is fairly correct.

Folios

543; size 30 by 20 cm.; bad Nasta‘líq, rubrications; bought in Lakhnaw by some Frenchman about 1771 A. D.; apparently it is an 18^th century Ms., transcribed in India; contents: Pt. I, chs. i-xxv. The text is extremely incorrect.

Then

the fourth Petrograd Ms. is in the Asiatic Museum. It is dated 1251 A. H. = 1835/6 A. D. and contains only the first part which covers 369 folios. This is a very late and unreliable Ms., as Prof. Barthold himself remarks in his article on the Ṣaffárids, referred to above on p. 119, ll. 6-9.

There

is another Ms. in the same Museum, which is also dated 1261 A. H. = 1845 A. D. It contains 477 folios which comprise all the four parts.

Yet

another undated Ms. of 209 folios containing only the third part is also preserved in the same Museum.

An

abridged and valueless Ms. is preserved in the University Library of Petrograd. Pet. 1.-Pet. 4. are very modern Mss., hence deserve very little consideration.

No

description of this Ms. is available at present. Probably it is the same Ms. which Flügel has mentioned (H. Khalfa Vol. VII, p. 286, No. 1242) in his list of the Núr-i-‘Uthmániyya Library. It is now numbered 3272 in the Catalogue of the same Library, where Jamálu’d-Dín* Muḥammad al-‘Awfí is mentioned as the author. Probably this Ms. is responsible for the mistake of Flügel and other orientalists about the title of the author.

In

the same library are preserved the abridged version of the Jawámi‘ by Muḥammad* b. As‘ad at-Tustarí al-Ḥanafí (No. 3273), and two unidentified Turkish versions (Nos. 3232 and 3274). All these Ms. require a thorough investigation in order to determine their textual value.

This

Ms. contains Pt. I only with miniatures. It was brought over “from the East” for sale; Mírzá Muḥammad Khán of Qazwín has seen it in Paris, and about 1922 or 1923 A. D. it was offered by Messrs. Luzac & Co. of London to Prof. E. G. Browne for £ 50 and sent to Cambridge, where the present writer has seen it, but unfortunately could not examine it closely. It appeared to be a 16^th or 17^th century A. D. Ms.. It is not known when and where it was sold, and in whose possession it remains at the present date. This Ms. like H bis is interesting for the paintings which it contains.

During Mss. of the pseudo - Jawá­mi‘u’l-Ḥikáyát the investigation of the various Mss. of the Jawámi‘u’l-Ḥikáyát of al-‘Awfí, a number of other works of a slightly different but deceptive title have come to the notice of the present writer. They are known as Jámi‘u’l-Ḥikáyát, a title with which the Jawámi‘ of al-‘Awfí has been erroneously designated by some later authors. In the first place the translation of Faraj ba‘d ash-Shidda by Ḥusayn b. As‘ad, discussed previously, has been designated briefly by some writers as Jámi‘u’l-Ḥikáyát. Secondly there exist a few other later works of fictitious tales differing in their contents, but all of them known as Jámi‘u’l-Ḥikáyát. Two Mss. containing tales of this kind are described by Ethé in the India Office Cat. No. 797-8. Some of these tales are stated to have been borrowed from the Jawámi‘ of ‘Awfí, but they have very little resemblance to it. Another Ms. of a similar nature is preserved in the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, see W. Ivanow, Cat. Pers. Mss. No. 301. Yet another work containing tales of unhistorical nature, namely, the “Story of Ashraf Khán the king of Khurásán”, is noticed by Dorn in the “Cat. des Manuscrits et Xylographes Orientaux de la Bib. Imp. Publique de St. Pétersbourg p. 410, No. CDLXXII. Another copy of the same work is mentioned in the “Cat. of several hundred Manuscript Works in various Oriental Languages, collected by Sir W. Ouseley”, p. 13, Nos. 442 and 443. Another complete work in four volumes*, similar to the India Office Mss. (cf. the titles of the tales), is preserved in the collection of the Royal Asiatic Society’s Library; see a Cat. of Mss. etc. published in JRAS, XXIV, (1892) pp. 543-4, Nos. 334-7. All these works have very little in common with the Jawámi‘ of ‘Awfí.