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Illuminated manuscripts

 Subject

Staff Only
Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Found in 211 Collections and/or Records:

الجامع الصحيح al-Jāmi‘ al-ṣaḥīḥ, undated copy (original text composed 9th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 156
Scope and Contents

A copy of the famous collection of ḥadīth (reports of the sayings and deeds of Prophet Muḥammad) by Abū ‘Abd-Allāh Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī, (d. 256 A.H., 869 C.E.).


Four frontispieces illuminated with gold.

Dates: undated copy (original text composed 9th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

القرآن al-Qur'an, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 148
Scope and Contents A complete copy of the Qur'an from Sulṭān Tippū-Ṣāḥib's (d. 1799 C.E.) library.Tippū was born in 1165 A.H., 1749 C.E. and succeeded his father, Ḥaydar ‘Alī, as Sulṭān of Mysore in 1197 A.H., 1782 C.E. He was killed in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, while defending his city Seringapatam against the British and their allies, the Niz̤ām and the Marhattas in 1214 A.H., 1799 C.E.The titles of the sūrahs (chapters) are in large characters in...
Dates: undated
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

القرآن al-Qur’ān, undated (extant by 18th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 149
Scope and Contents

A complete copy of a 30-leafed, or sī-varaqī, Qur'an. The sī-varaqī was a popular Qur'an manuscript format in South Asia from the seventeenth-century onwards.


The first two pages are richly illuminated with gold, and pages are gold-lined round the margins throughout. The periods are also gold-filled, and the binding includes gold-lined stamps.

Dates: undated (extant by 18th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

القرآن al-Qur’ān, 1135 A.H., 1722 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 150
Scope and Contents A complete copy of the Qur'an.There are inscriptions in the margins in Persian indicating the endings of a sūrah. The text of the Qur'an is preceded and followed by a short treatise of six folios on tajwīd (the correct recitation of the Qur'an), a sā‘at-nāmah (for consulting proper hours), and a twelve folio fāl-nāmah (containing rules for taking omens from the...
Dates: 1135 A.H.; 1722 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
Or Ms 153 and Or Ms 172 (bindings) [Please click twice to access a higher quality photograph]
Or Ms 153 and Or Ms 172 (bindings) [Please...

القرآن al-Qur’ān, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 153
Scope and Contents This copy of the Qur'an consists of the following surahs (chapters): 1, 6, 36, 44, 48, 55, 56 , 67, 78-114. On the last twenty folios there are more chapters written irrespective of order, and mixed with these are quotations, possibly in Turkish, from Shaykh Muḥyi al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ‘Alī b. Muḥammad al-‘Arabī's (d. 638 A.H., 1240 C.E.) commentary upon the Qur'an. There are also a few prayers and some notes on the stature of the Prophet,...
Dates: undated
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 154
Scope and Contents

A collection of a few sūrahs (chapters) of the Qur'an, beginning with sūrah 19, entitled 'al-Maryam', in which case the sūrah title has been written upside down. This manuscript may well pertain to the Morisco community of Islamic Spain or Morocco.

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

انوار الربیع في انواع البدیع Anwār al-rabī' fī anwā' al-badī', 1113 A.H., 1701 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 42
Scope and Contents

This is a commentary upon the Badi'iyyah of 'Alī Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Madanī b. Aḥmad Niẓam al-Dīn al-Ḥusaynī al-Ḥasanī by the author himself, who wrote it in India in 1077 A.H. (1666 C.E.).

Dates: 1113 A.H.; 1701 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

انوار سهيلی Anwār-i Suhaylī, undated copy (original text composed 15th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 339
Scope and Contents

A copy of the Persian rendition of Kalīlah and Dimnah, by Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshifī, born ca. 840 A.H. (1436-37 C.E.) died. 910 A.H. (1504-5 C.E.).


Illuminated Frontispiece.

Dates: undated copy (original text composed 15th cent. C.E.)
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

بحر الانساب Baḥr al-ansāb, 1011 A.H., 1602-1603 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 407
Scope and Contents The title translating as "The Sea of Generations," this is the Persian version of a history of the families of the ancestors of Muḥammad from Adam downwards, of himself, of the first six Caliphs, and the Shi'i Imāms. The translator, Muḥammad Ja'far Ḥusaynī of Mecca, states in the preface that the Arabic original was the work of his own father. It is written in very simple style, illustrated with numerous family tables, and in the part dealing with the history of Muḥammad and his ancestors a...
Dates: 1011 A.H.; 1602-1603 C.E.
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia