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Binning, Robert Blair Munro, 1814-1891 (Linguist; East India Company Official, Madras Civil Service)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1814 - 1891

Biography

Robert Blair Munro Binning was the third son of David Monro of Softlaw (who by deed of entail assumed the surname and arms of Binning), by his second wife Isabella Blair. Binning had a career as an administrator in the East India Company Service in Madras. He was an enthusiastic linguist in Arabic, Persian and Hindi, in the pursuance of which he collected many manuscripts and other examples of the use of these languages, and published A grammar, with a selection of dialogues and familiar phrases, and a short vocabulary in modern Arabic, edited by Fletcher Hayes, in 1849. He travelled in the Cape of Good Hope, the Levant, Arabian peninsula and Egypt in 1845-1847, but had to quit his post for health reasons in 1850. For the next two years he travelled again, in Ceylon [Sri Lanka] and Persia [Iran], which he described in his published Journal of two years' travel in Persia, Ceylon, etc., (2 volumes, London: 1857). Binning bequethed his substantial book and manuscript collection to New College, Edinburgh, and Edinburgh University Library.

Found in 13 Collections and/or Records:

Papers of Robert Blair Monro Binning (1814-1891)

 Fonds
Identifier: GD49
Scope and Contents

The collection is composed of: an introduction to the Asiatic languages, namely Modern Arabic, Persian and Hindi, possibly from 1873; record of travels and experiences in Africa and the Middle East, 1845-1847; a catalogue of the book collection of R. B. Monro Binning; letters and documents relating to Arabic, Persian, Hindustani, Dukhnee, Telugu etc; and, a vocabulary in English, Arabic, French, Hebrew, Persian, Greek, Sanskrit, Latin, Turkish, Telugu, Gaelic, and Hindi.

Dates: 1845-1873
Found in: New College Library Special Collections
[Please click twice to see the full volume]
[Please click twice to see the full volume...

الآثار الباقيه عن القرون الخاليه al-Āthār al-bāqiyah ‘an al-qurūn al-khāliyah, 707 A.H., 1307 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 161
Scope and Contents This important work by the Persian polymath Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, who is better known as Abū Rayḥān "al-Bīrūnī" al-Khwārazmī (d. 440 A.H., 1048 C.E.) was written originally in circa 390 A.H. (1000 A.D.). The manuscript has a distinct multi-ethnic and multi-confessional flavour. Al-Bīrūnī, who calculated on the basis of measurements he took in the Punjab plain that the world was round, describes the systems of calculating time used by the known races of the world, and their associated...
Dates: 707 A.H.; 1307 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

القرآن al-Qur’ān, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 151
Scope and Contents

A complete copy of the Qur'an. Written in extremely small but clear script.


First two pages richly illuminated in gold and colour.

Dates: undated
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

بوستان و گلستان با تصویر Būstān va Gulistān (bā taṣvīr), undated copy (original text composed 13th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 287
Scope and Contents This fine manuscript contains: the complete Būstān of the famous Persian poet Sa‘dī (d. circa 690 A.H., 1291 C.E.), written on the margins and beginning in the usual manner. And, in the centre of the pages, his complete Gulistān, which begins with the preface. It features illuminated frontispieces, gold frames, and is illustrated with seven portraits in the Persian style of the 9th century A.H. (15th cent. C.E.). The binding...
Dates: undated copy (original text composed 13th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia
f. 16v [Please click twice to see the full volume]
f. 16v [Please click twice to see the full...

تصاوير Taṣāwīr, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 374
Scope and Contents The contents of this volume are: Nineteen (16 3/4 in. by 11 1/4 in.) and ten (13 1/4 in. by 9 1/4 in.) portraits carefully drawn, with seven (13 1/4 in. by 9 1/4 in.) good specimens of caligraphy (one by Fāʼiqq). The paintings are by Indian artists, two are in the Persian style, and have been pasted on gold sprinkled paper. The subjects of the pictures include Mughal Emperors and Princes (including Bābar and ‘Ālamgīr and Mirzā Jawān-Bakht, who died at Rangun in exile with his father...
Dates: undated
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

قصهٔ شاه و گل Qissah-yi Shāh-u Gul, 1118 A.H., 1706 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 319
Scope and Contents

The love-story of Akbar-Shāh (r. 1806-1835 C.E.), a descendant of Tīmūr (d. 1405 C.E.), with Gul-i Surkh.

Dates: 1118 A.H.; 1706 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

قصّها Qiṣṣahā, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 382
Scope and Contents

A few short tales of the wisdom of birds. In the last tale, the compiler has described the condition of Calcutta (Kolkata) and Monghir as it existed during his time. At the end there is a short selection from the poems of the celebrated Mirzā Muḥammad Rafī‘, poetically styled 'Sawdā' of Dehli (d. 1195 A.H., 1781 C.E.).

Dates: undated
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia
f. 5v-6r [Please click twice to see the full volume]
f. 5v-6r [Please click twice to see the fu...

قطعات خوش خط Qiṭ‘āt-i khūshkhaṭṭ, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 373
Scope and Contents This is a muraqqa' (album) containing valuable specimens of Persian penmanship in a variety of scripts: nasta‘līq, naskh, rayḥān, tawqī‘, muḥaqqaq, riqā‘, and thuluth. They are pasted, large ones in the centre and small ones...
Dates: undated
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

قواعد فارسی Qawā‘id-i Fārsī, undated copy (earliest version compiled 18th-19th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 359
Scope and Contents

A short treatise on grammar by Rawshan ‘Alī Anṣārī of Jawnpur (d. circa 1225 A.H., 1810 C.E.), who was a professor in the College at Fort William, Calcutta (Kolkata). In the introduction it is stated that the author compiled this work for his son Faz̤l ‘Alī.

Dates: undated copy (earliest version compiled 18th-19th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

کتاب منتخبات من الکتب المختلفة العربية Kitāb muntakhabāt min al-kutub al-mukhtalifah al-‘Arabiyyah, undated

 Item
Scope and Contents Selections of Arabic Writings. The content is as follows (according to the pagination in the Ms):1) A selection of stories and histories (p. 1-145)2) A selection of chapters from the Qurʼān (p. 146-212)3) The first Mu‘allaqah of the famous pre-Islamic Arabic poems al-Mu‘allaqāt al-Sab‘ li Imruʼ al-Qays (p. 213-226)4) A collection of Aghāni, songs or poems...
Dates: undated
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

Additional filters:

Type
Archival Object 12
Collection 1
 
Subject
Illuminated manuscripts 6
Compilation manuscripts 4
Persian poetry 3
Art, South Asian 2
Arabic language 1
∨ more
Arabic poetry 1
Calligraphy, Persian 1
Chronology, Historical--Early works to 1800 1
Correspondence -- Persian 1
Hindi language 1
Mogul Empire -- History 1
Mogul Empire -- Kings and rulers -- Biography 1
Persian language 1
Persian language--Grammar 1
Qurʼan -- Manuscripts 1
Tales -- Arab countries 1
Tales--India 1
Telugu language 1
historiography 1
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