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[IO Islamic 2118] شاهنامه

<ul> <li><strong>Sh&acirc;hn&acirc;ma</strong><strong>.</strong></li> <li><strong>This manuscript is now IO Islamic 860 in the India Office collections.</strong></li> <li><strong>[metadata:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hermann_Eth%C3%A9"><strong>Hermann Eth&eacute;</strong></a><strong><em>,&nbsp;</em></strong><a href="http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1323681"><strong><em>Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office,</em></strong>&nbsp;</a><a href="http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1323681"><strong>2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1,</strong></a>&nbsp;<strong>number 2118 here with notations and hyperlinks].</strong></li> </ul> <p>B. POETRY.</p> <p>I.EPIC, LYRIC, AND DIDACTIC POETRY.</p> <p><em>Poets who died between</em> A.H. 400 <em>and</em> 500.</p> <p>1.Firdaus&icirc; and Imitators (Nos. 860-901).</p> <p>a.<em>Copies of the Sh&acirc;hn&acirc;ma with the older preface</em>.</p> <p>860</p> <p>Sh&acirc;hn&acirc;ma (شاهنامه).</p> <p>Firdaus&icirc;&rsquo;s great epic poem, &lsquo;the book of kings,&rsquo; in four books, preceded by the older preface, anterior to the so-called B&acirc;isunghar&icirc; recension, and designated by Mohl (i. p. xv) as prėface No. II;&rsquo; see Rieu ii. p. 534<sup>a</sup>; W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 732 sq.; Bodleian Cat., No. 497; Rosen, Persian MSS., p. 169; J. Aumer, p. 6 (where it is wrongly ascribed to B&acirc;isunghar), etc. This preface has been translated by M. de Wallenbourg in his &lsquo;Notice sur le Shahnamė,&rsquo; Vienna, 1810, and begins here, on fol. 1<sup>b</sup>: سپاس و آفرين مر خدايرا كه آن جهان و اين جهان الخ.</p> <p><em>First book</em> (جلد اوّل) of the poem, on fol. 6<sup>b</sup>, beginning:</p> <p>بنام خداوند جان و خرد &ndash; كزين برتر انديشه بر نگذرد</p> <p>And going down to Bahr&acirc;m&rsquo;s death.</p> <p><em>Second book</em> (جلد دويم), on fol. 151<sup>b</sup>, beginning:</p> <p>بنام خداوند خورشيد و ماه &ndash; كه دلرا بنامش خرد داد راه</p> <p>And concluding with Isfandiy&acirc;r&rsquo;s message of victory to his father Gusht&acirc;sp.</p> <p><em>Third book</em> (جلد سوم), on fol. 290<sup>b</sup>, beginning:</p> <p>خداوند پيروزى و فرّهى &ndash; خداوند ديهم و شاهنشهى</p> <p>And ending with accession of N&ucirc;shirw&acirc;n.</p> <p><em>Fourth book</em> (جلد چهارم), on fol. 407<sup>b</sup>, beginning exactly as the second book and comprising the rest of the poem.</p> <p>Firdaus&icirc; (Ab&ucirc;-alḳ&acirc;sim Ḥasan or Manṣ&ucirc;r) was born about A.H. 321 or 322 (A.D. 933 or 934) in Sh&acirc;d&acirc;b, near Ṭ&ucirc;s, completed the Sh&acirc;hn&acirc;ma, according to the usual statement, A.H. 400 (A.D. 1009, 1010), according to a rare epilogue, found only in one copy of the British Museum (Rieu. ii. p. 535<sup>a</sup>) and in No. 878 below, already A.H. 389 (A.D. 999), and according to some verses in the same copy of the British Museum, even as early as A.H. 384 (A.D. 994), and died A.H. 411 (A.D. 1020; other dates of his death are A.H. 416 =A.D. 1025, and A.H. 421=A.D. 1030); comp. on the poet&rsquo;s biography and special incidents of his life, besides the Catalogues mentioned above, W. Pertsch, p. 68; G. Fl&uuml;gel i. p. 492 sq.; A. Sprenger, Catal., p. 405 sq.; Ouseley, Biogr. Notices, pp. 54-99; Eth&eacute;, Fird&ucirc;s&icirc; als Lyriker, in Sitzungsberichte der bayr. Academic, philos-philol. Classe, 1872, pp. 275-304, and 1873, pp. 623-653; &lsquo;A Sketch of the Life and Writings of Ferdusi,&rsquo; London, 1876; and Eth&eacute;, Die h&ouml;fische und romantische Poesie der Perser, Hamburg, 1887, p. 25 sq. Best text editions by Turner Macan, in 4 vols., Calcutta, 1829 (of the earlier Calcutta edition of 1811, by Lumsden , only one volume has appeared), reproduced in the lithographed eastern texts of Bombay, 1849 and 1856, Cawnpore, 1874, Ṭahr&acirc;n, A.H. 1245 and 1267, etc.; J. Mohl (with a complete prose translation in French), Paris, 1838-1878; and J.A. Vullers, Leyden, 1877-1884. Parts of the poem have been published in J. Atkinson&rsquo;s Soohrab, a poem (Persian and English), Calcutta, 1814; Vullers, Chrestomathia Shahnamiana. Bonn, 1833; H.S. Jarrett, Selections from the Shah Namah, Calcutta, 1880; I. Pizzi, Antologia Firdusiana, second edition, Leipzig, 1891; in various Persian Chrestomathies, for instance, Spiegel (Leipzig, 1846), Pizzi (Manuale della lingua Persiana, Leipzig, 1883, and Chrestomathie Persane, Turin, 1889), and others, and in Salemann und Shukovski, Persische Grammatik, Berlin, 1889; compare also Zenker, No. 526 sq., and ii. 489 sq. Chief translations by Champion (the first eight books), 1788; St. Weston, Episodes from the Shah Nameh, 1815; J. G&ouml;rres, Das Heldenbuch von Iran, 2 vols., Berlin, 1820; Starkenfels, Key-Kawns in Masenderan, Vienna, 1841; Fr. V. Schack, Heldensagen, third edition, 3 vols., Stuttgart, 1877; J. Mohl, Le livre des rois, traduit et comment&eacute;, publi&eacute; par Mme. Mohl, Paris, 1876-1878; H. Zimmern, The Epic of Kings, London, 1882; S. Robinson, Persian Poetry for English Readers, 1883 (pp. 5-102); I. Pizzi, ll libro dei re, poema epico, in 8 vols., Turin, 1886-1888 (the only complete translation in verse that exists of Firdaus&icirc;&rsquo;s epopee in any European language, except the Turkish version of Shar&icirc;f, see Rieu, p. 152 sq.); Fr. Rϋckert, Firdosi&rsquo;s K&ouml;nigsh&ucirc;ch, aus dem Nachlass herausgegeben von E. A. Bayer, Sage i-xiii, Berlin, 1890; and &lsquo;Rostam und Suhrab&rsquo; im Nibelungenmass, ein Fragment mitgeteilt von E. Bayer in &lsquo;Zeitschrift fϋr vergl. Litteraturgeschichte, etc.,&rsquo;</p> <p>Berlin, 1891, pp. 322-342. On the question of the origin of certain parts of the poem, see N&ouml;ldeke&rsquo;s &lsquo;Persische Studien II,&rsquo; Sitzungsberichte der kais. Acad. Der Wissenschaften in Wien, 1892, vol. 126.</p> <p>The present copy was transcribed by Muḥammad Ḥ&acirc;fiż Ćisht&icirc;. Book I is dated A.H. 1007, first of Ramaḍ&acirc;n (A.D. 1599, March 28); Book II, A.H. 1007, the 18th of Shaww&acirc;l (A.D. 1599, May 14); Book III has no date; book IV is dated A.H. 1008, the 16th of Rajab (A.D. 1600, Febr. 1). Fol. 421 (٤٢٤ according to the Arabic paging) is left blank. Many small blanks besides.</p> <p>No. 2118, ff. 522, 4 coll., each ll. 25; small, but very neat and clear Nasta&rsquo;l&icirc;ḳ; splendid illuminations on the first two pages of each book ; size, 15<sup>3/8</sup> in. by 10<sup>1/4</sup> in.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

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