Asian and African studies blog

As a supplement to the newly digitised draft catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the India Office Library, I have uploaded sheets of a fascicle which was originally intended to be the first in a series,  but which never got beyond proofs. These can be accessed by following the link below:

Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts vol III: Qurʼānic Literature

These proofs were returned from the University Press Oxford at various times during 1926 to Charles Storey who was then Assistant Librarian at the India Office Library and was actively engaged in cataloguing both Arabic and Persian manuscripts. As can be seen immediately from the number of mistakes, the proofs fully demonstrate the complexity of the material and the consequent difficulties involved in printing. Although he received the proofs in 1926 it took Storey, according to his dated notes, a full year to revise them. What happened next I have not yet discovered, but nothing ever came of Storey’s wish, recorded at the top of the first page: “We should rather like to get these sheets printed off by the middle of March”.

The opening of al-Sūrābādī's commentary on the Qurʼān, one of the oldest Persian manuscripts preserved, copied in Rabīʻ II 523 (1129) by Maḥmūd ibn Gurgīn ibn Gurgsār al-Turkī (British Library IO Islamic 3840, ff. 1v-2r)


The fascicle is headed Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts Volume III and contains:

Qurʼānic literature:

A. Commentaries and translations (cols. 1-36)

B. Glossaries (cols. 36-7)

C. Asbāb al-nuzūl and al-Nāsikh wa’l-mansūkh (cols. 37-8)

D. The pronunciation of the Qurʼān and the variant readings (cols. 38-54)

E. Qurʼānic magic (cols. 54-60)

The titles of the works included in the catalogue, together with their correct manuscript numbers (some have been given new numbers since Storey catalogued them), can be downloaded from the following link:

Index to Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts Volume III: Qurʼānic Literature

Ursula Sims-Williams, Asian and African Studies

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A newly digitised unpublished catalogue of Persian manuscripts

Persian manuscripts digitisation project

Today's guest post by the Islamic art historian Barbara Brend celebrates the completion of a project sponsored by the Barakat Trust to digitise two Timurid manuscripts in the British Library's collection, both thought to be, in part,  illustrated by perhaps the most celebrated of Persian painters, Bihzad. Both manuscripts are copies of the Khamsah by Nizami. The later of the two, Or.6810, dating from  the end of the 15th century, was digitised some time ago and is the subject of two earlier posts (ʻThe Khamsah of Nizami: a Timurid Masterpieceʼ and ʻA Jewel in the Crownʼ). Add.25900 is the earlier copy. Clicking on the hyperlinks will take you directly to the digital copy and further details including a list of all the miniatures with hyperlinks can be accessed from our Digital Persian Project page.

The Khamsah of Nizami Add. 25900

The Khamsah (Quintet) of Nizami Add. 25900 is an example of a manuscript produced over time. A volume of princely quality necessarily involved the work of a number of specialists: the scribe probably in overall control of the workshop, binders, illuminators, perhaps painters, possibly even paper-makers unless this essential were bought in.  But there might be a failure of patronage: the initiating patron might die, or a political upheaval might scatter the workshop.  In these cases a manuscript on which talent, time, and money had already been expended might be put aside and at some later date a new patron would order further work on it.

Shirin looks at the portrait of Khusrau watched by Shapur (British Library Add. 25900, f. 41r)

The Khamsah has a colophon dated 846/1442; its last private owner is named in a note on the fly-leaf, “James R. Ballantyne, Nov. 1837”.  Ballantyne (1774-1864) was a distinguished Scottish orientalist who worked in India from 1845 to 1861, subsequently becoming Librarian to the India Office.  One illustration in the Khamsah is usually considered, on stylistic grounds, to have been painted in Herat at the time of the colophon. It shows “Shirin contemplating the picture of Khusrau” (f. 41r).  For the third time Shapur, the friend of prince Khusrau, has hung his portrait on a tree in the mountain pastures where the princess Shirin disports herself with her ladies. The ladies have destroyed the first two pictures, but Shirin, already entranced by the first picture, herself moves to take possession of the third. The ladies, whose gestures indicate a degree of concern, have the pale and elegantly drawn faces characteristic of Herat painting on the 1440s; the face of Shirin, however, has been repainted with more emphatic features and an impression of volume in India in the time of Ballantyne. From the upper left Shapur observes the effect of his painting; he is concealed amongst rocks in which the painter of the 1440s has taken advantage of Chinese conventions of shading to introduce faces of grotesques, which also give an impression of volume, and thus the very opposite of the faces of the ladies.

Bahram Gur kills the dragon. Ascribed to Bihzad in the margin of the lower text panel (British Library Add. 25900, f. 161r)

Half a century later, in or around 1490, fourteen illustrations were added in Herat. “Bahram Gur slays a dragon” (f. 161r) is of this period.  The young prince Bahram Gur is a great hunter, particularly of the gur, the onager or wild ass. With a wealth of detail usually bestowed on the description of a beautiful young woman Nizami describes a female onager that catches Bahram’s attention. The prince follows her and she leads him to the cave of a dragon.  Bahram slays the dragon, slits it open and finds the onager’s foal inside. She then leads him on to a treasure that the dragon was guarding, and she vanishes.  The illustration bears an attribution to the great artist Bihzad, written vertically in the lower text panel.  It does not convey the sense of perfected design that we sometimes associate with the work of Bizhad, but it does demonstrate a keen imaginative sympathy.  The strongly coloured group of prince and horse are evidently dynamic, but the prince looks very young and his horse is tense and awkward: the prince could be anyone facing up to a challenge, for instance an artist undertaking the depiction of a subject. The mother onager is portrayed as something more than an ordinary animal: the painter seems aware of the poet’s description; he shows both the onager’s eyes, which slightly humanizes the face; and he places her just behind the horizon in the position traditionally used for observers.  The dragon, on the other hand, does not engage our sympathies; it remains entirely other.  There is, however, a strong sense of its movement as it creeps down from its high cave entrance, with the hint that there is a great deal more of its length to emerge, and perhaps even an impression that the part we already see is heavy with the foal it has eaten.

Mahan confronted by demons finds his horse transformed into a seven-headed dragon (British Library Add. 25900, f. 188r)

From the same book of the Khamsah, Haft Paykar (Seven fair Forms) is “Mahan confronted by demons” (f. 188r) from the story told to Bahram Gur in the Turquoise Pavilion. Already a rich young man, Mahan has been lured into seeking greater wealth and has found himself in a desert place confronted by demons with the heads of elephants and bulls, who carry flames. Further to this, the very horse that he was riding has sprouted wings and become a seven-headed dragon. The Herat painter—is this again Bihzad, working in a slightly different mode, or is it another?--gives the subject a slightly comic treatment that does not detract from its fundamental seriousness. With the clarity of late fifteenth-century Herat painting the demons, individualised as precise shapes, form a “road block” down the left-hand side. As in the previous picture, the rider-and-mount group is differentiated from the rest by strong colour; but here they do not press forward, instead the dragon heads turn on Mahan who strains backwards. The only element that moves forwards is the serpentine tail behind Mahan, while the dragon’s wings seem to hold Mahan like a vice.   

Nushabah recognises Iskandar from his portrait (British Library Add. 25900, f. 245v)

Evidently the manuscript was transported to Tabriz, when this was the centre of Safavid rule, as four illustrations were added in 1530s or early 1540s.  In this, the grandest of the four, Iskandar (Alexander the Great) has come to visit Nushabah, queen of Barda, in the guise of his own ambassador (f. 245v). Nushabah sees through his pretence and demonstrates the accuracy of her perception by showing Iskandar a picture of himself.  With its rocky foreground, this illustration still recalls Herat painting, but Iskandar’s turban, with its bold plumes and the elongated shape caused by its wrapping round a cap with a high central projection, proclaim the Safavid context—as do the turbans of various male attendants who, according to the text, should properly be female. Nushabah may not claim our attention at first, but gradually she does, wearing rather more red than Iskandar, enthroned and sitting in a royal pose, gesturing to the picture that shows she is not mistaken, the whole framed in a magical architecture.

Barbara Brend, Independent scholar

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An illustrated 14th century Khamsah by Khvaju Kirmani

Persian manuscripts digitisation project

The British Library has exciting news for researchers of Persian manuscripts. The previously unpublished descriptions for a projected third volume of the Catalogue of the India Office Library's Persian manuscript collection have been digitised and made available on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts website. The catalogue was already well under way in the 1930s but with the intervention of the 2nd World War, the project was never completed. It contains, however, descriptions of about 1,500 works and it is our sincere hope that by making them available, this part of the British Library’s collection will become more accessible to researchers interested in the literature, history and culture of the Persianate world. The digitisation of this important catalogue has been made possible by a grant from the Barakat Trust.


The murder of Iraj by his brothers Tur and Salm in a 16th century Shahnamah partly illustrated by Muhammad Yusuf (see earlier post on this manuscript). One of the manuscripts included in the newly digitised catalogue (BL IO Islamic 3682, f. 29r)

Three giants of Persian scholarship

These draft descriptions, which were primarily written by hand, are the work of three towering figures in Oriental Studies in the UK.

The first scholar whose work is digitised here is Charles Ambrose Storey (1888-1968), who read Classics and Arabic at Cambridge.  He is famous for his monumental work, Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey, which was intended as a response to Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur.  However, Storey's survey, though unfinished, is much more detailed and thorough, including the content of the works he discusses, information about the life of the author and others connected with the text, lists of known manuscripts with dates of their transcription, as well as a full bibliography of studies, modern editions, and translations. In 1919 Storey became Assistant Librarian and later Librarian at the India Office before being elected Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge in 1933, a great honour and distinction.  When Storey passed away, he left his worldly possessions to the Royal Asiatic Society, which has worked to publish posthumously the remainder of his survey.  In addition to his survey, Storey also generated a great deal of research on the Persian manuscripts in the India Office collections which he continued working on after 1933 and which was never published; it is this that has been digitised and made available on-line.  

The other authors are the equally well-known scholars, Reuben Levy (1891-1966) and Arthur John Arberry (1905-1969).  Levy read Persian, Turkish and Semitic languages at Oxford and taught Persian there until moving to Cambridge in the 1920s, where he was a lecturer of Persian before becoming full professor in 1950. Records show that he was still cataloguing manuscripts for the India Office Library as late as 1959. He translated a number of seminal texts from Persian into English, including the Qabusnamah of Kay Kawus b. Iskandar in 1951.  

The third scholar to contribute to the planned third volume of the Indian Office Persian manuscripts catalogue was A.J. Arberry.  Like Storey, Arberry was employed by the India Office Library between 1934 and 1939, before being appointed to the Chair of Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and subsequently – again following in Storey’s footsteps – to the Sir Thomas Adams Professorship of Arabic at Cambridge University.  A profilic scholar, Arberry's many editions of texts and translations from Arabic and Persian, along with his books on a range of topics on the literature and culture of the Islamic world, number around 90 volumes.  Famous for introducing the poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi to the west, he also made elegant translations of the Qur'an and the poetry of Hafiz. Arberry also compiled catalogues of  the Arabic and Persian manuscript collections in the India Office Library, Cambridge University Library, and the Chester Beatty Library, all of which are indispensible tools for the researcher today.  


The opening of Qarabadin-i Qadiri, a medical pharmacopoeia by Muhammad Akbar Arzani, dated 1792 (BL Delhi Persian 843B)

How to use the catalogue

There are three manuscript sequences included in the catalogue: India Office (IO Islamic) Persian manuscripts acquired between 1903 and 1936, and Delhi Arabic and Delhi Persian — these last two formerly part of the Mughal Imperial Library, Delhi. The digitised catalogue consists of 3778 images grouped in 38 folders (Mss Eur E207/1-38) but arranged in a somewhat haphazard order, partly by subject and to some extent by author.

If readers wish to browse the catalogue, there are partial subject indexes to 33 of the 38 folders:

Folders 1-4:  Sufism, by Arberry:
Folders 5-9: History, by Storey
Folders 10-14 : mostly Sufism, by Levy
Folders 15-16: poetry, biography by Storey
Folders 17-24: miscellaneous, poetry, science by Levy
Folders 25-33: Delhi Persian 411-945, by Levy

Readers wishing to look up specific numbers quoted, for example, in Storey’s Persian Literature, or manuscripts listed in Fihrist (the online union catalogue of Arabic script manuscripts in the United Kingdom) should follow this link to the

Online index and concordance to vol 3 of the Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, Mss Eur E207 (unpublished)

This lists the contents of the catalogue in manuscript order. Each number is linked directly to its digital image on the web. If the description is several pages long, readers can move to the following or preceding page by using the forward and backward arrows at the top of the screen. A word of warning though: the numbers in the catalogue are largely unchecked and may sometimes be inaccurate!

To facilitate browsing the Delhi Persian collection, we have copied below a general classification of the collection according to a preliminary handlist (IO Islamic 4601-3) which was compiled in Calcutta under the supervision of H. Blochmann ca. 1869.

Delhi Persian 1-34: Qur'anic commentaries and treatises
Delhi Persian 35-72: Works on Hadith
Delhi Persian 73-122: Adʼiyah or devotional works
Delhi Persian 123-125: Principles of law
Delhi Persian 126-222: Law
Delhi Persian 226-253: ʻAqaʼid or doctrines
Delhi Persian 257-326: Kalam
Delhi Persian 329-417: Grammar
Delhi Persian 420-429: Rhetoric
Delhi Persian 431-507: Insha, or prose and letter-writers
Delhi Persian 508-567: Lexicography
Delhi Persian 569-783: History and biography
Delhi Persian 785-788: Physiognomy
Delhi Persian 789-797: Logic and dialectics
Delhi Persian 798-806: Natural philosophy
Delhi Persian 807-872: Medicine
Delhi Persian 873-899: Works on Mawaʻiz, homilies and khutbahs etc
Delhi Persian 902-953: Ethics
Delhi Persian 954-1198: Sufiism
Delhi Persian 1200-1202: Dreambooks
Delhi Persian 1302-1209: Anecdotes or comic writings
Delhi Persian 1210-1213: Riddles
Delhi Persian 1222-1420: Poetry
Delhi Persian 1424-1475: Mathematics and astronomy
Delhi Persian 1492-1499: Charms and geomancy
Delhi Persian 1500-1502: Music
Delhi Persian 1503-1550: Miscellaneous

Further Reading:
Storey, C.A., Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey (London, 1972-ongoing). Section 1 is on line: Qur’anic Literature (1927)
Arberry, A.J., The Koran Interpreted: A Translation (Reprinted New York, 1996).
---------------,  Fifty Poems of Hafiz (Cambridge, 1962)
Levy, R., A Mirror for Princes: The Qābūs Nāma (London, 1951)


Nur Sobers-Khan, Curator for Turkey, Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar Museums Authority
Ursula Sims-Williams, Asian and African Studies

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15,000 images of Persian manuscripts online

There are several portraits of the rulers of the Qajar dynasty in the British Library collections, occurring either as manuscript illustrations or separate paintings,  but there are comparatively few examples of their predecessors the Zands who ruled Iran from 1751 until 1794.

One of these is a manuscript copy of a history of the Zand dynasty (Add.24904), the Tārīkh-i gītīgushāʼī (here called Tārīkh-i Zandīyah), by Mīrzā Muḥammad Ṣādiq, which was continued after the author’s death in 1204 (1789/90) by his pupil ʻAbd al-Karīm ibn ʻAlī Riżā al-Sharīf.  It was written originally at the request of a later Zand, Jaʻfar Khān (r. 1785-89), intended as a contemporary record of the events of his reign. This volume contains only the section up to the death in 1779 of Karīm Khān Zand, the founder of the dynasty.


Opening of the Tārīkh-i Zandīyah by Mīrzā Muḥammad Ṣādiq (Add.24904, ff.2-3)


A companion volume is Add.24903, a history of the Zands from the end of Karīm Khān’s reign until the defeat and capture of the last ruler Luṭf ʻAlī Khān (r. 1789-94). The author is Ibn ʻAbd al-Karīm ʻAlī Riżā Shīrāzī. Despite the close resemblance of his name to Muḥammad Ṣādiq’s pupil, this work appears to be different from the continuation mentioned above. According to a note at the end, this copy was made for the soldier and diplomat Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833). It is dated Safar 1218 (1803).

Both works were in fact used extensively by Malcolm in his History of Persia and according to the catalogue of the Sotheby’s sale at which they were purchased by the British Museum (Catalogue, p. 17), they were presented to him by the Qajar ruler Fatḥ ʻAlī Shāh himself (r. 1797-1834) while he was Ambassador at his Court [1]. This would have been during Malcolm's 3rd mission to Iran in 1810. Malcolm was on very good terms with the Shah who described him as his ‘first favourite among Europeans’ and made him a Sipahdār ('general) of the Persian army, granting him the order of the Lion and the Sun (Lambton, p. 100). Both manuscripts include richly illuminated openings in addition to exceptional contemporary lacquer bindings decorated with named portraits of the Zand rulers and their courtiers, all sporting typical Zand turbans. We are told in the sale catalogue that ‘These specimens of Oriental binding are in the finest state of Bibliopegistic art, and of rarest occurrence, being only to be found on books given by the Shahs in presents’.

Karīm Khān surrounded by his family and courtiers. Early 19th century (Add.24904, outside front cover)

The front cover contains the following portraits (right to left):

Āzād Khān Afghān (d. 1781) one of the main rivals for control after the assassination of Nādir Shāh in 1747 who surrendered to Karīm Khān in 1762 and subsequently became one of his trusted nobles (Malcolm 2, p. 66);
Ismaʻīl Khān - presumably blind. There was an Ismaʻīl Khān, Karīm Khān's nephew, who later became governor of Hamadan (Malcolm 2, p. 104);
Karīm Khān (r. 1751-79), the founder of the Zand dynasty who never himself assumed the title of Shāh, choosing instead to be Vakīl (‘deputy’). With a reputation for clemency and forbearance, he apparently had comparatively modest tastes preferring to sit on a rug instead of a throne;
Ibrāhīm Khān, Karīm Khān’s 5th son ‘deprived of his virility’ by his cousin Akbar Khān (Malcolm 2, p. 89);
Mīrzā Jaʻfar Vazīr, minister of Karīm Khān;
Mīrzā Mahdī;
Mīrzā ʻAqīl


Ṣādiq Khān surrounded by his family and courtiers. Early 19th century (Add.24904, back cover)

The back cover contains the following portraits (right to left):

Mīrzā(?)…Khān… (illegible);
Akbar Khān (d. 1782), son of Karīm Khān’s half-brother, who in 1782 defeated and killed Ṣādiq Khān and all his sons (except Jaʻfar Khān - see below). He was himself subsequently blinded and killed by Jaʻfar Khān in retribution (Malcolm 2, pp. 99-100);
Ṣādiq Khān (r. 1779-81), the 5th Zand ruler and Karīm Khān’s brother who was defeated, blinded and killed by Akbar Khān (above);
Unnamed prince(?);
Mīrzā Ḥusayn Vazīr, ‘a wise and popular minister’ (Malcolm 2, p.104) of Jaʻfar Khān and afterwards his son Luṭf ʻAlī Khān, with pen-box tucked under his arm (see also below);
Jaʻfar Khān (r. 1785-89), the 7th Zand ruler and sole surviving son of Sādiq Khān (above);
Mīrzā Bāqir


Luṭf ʻAlī Khān (left), son of Jaʻfar Khān, the last of the Zands, defeated in 1794, blinded and put to death on orders of his successor Aghā Muḥammad Khān Qājār (r. 1794-97) whose portrait with Hājī Ibrāhīm (Governor of Shiraz who turned against Luṭf ʻAlī Khān ultimately bringing about his downfall) is included on the front cover of this volume. Luṭf ʻAlī Khān is accompanied (right) by his minister Mīrzā Ḥusayn (Add.24903, inside back cover)

Left: outside board of Add.24903. Right: inside board of Add.24904 which is said to be ‘a representation of the Ceiling in the Divan’ (Catalogue, p. 17)

The lacquered book covers, dating from around 1803, no doubt reflect idealised rather than historical scenes, but the Library does also have a portrait of Karīm Khān which was painted by a contemporary artist. It is one of 23 paintings purchased 15 May 1894 from Sidney Churchill (1862-1921), Persian Secretary to Her Majesty's Legation at Teheran 1886-94, who altogether acquired more than 200 Persian manuscripts for the British Museum. The portrait of Karīm Khān is inscribed on the back, presumably by Churchill, ‘Contemporary portrait said to be of Kerim Khan Zand’. Churchill had a personal as well as professional connection with the Court since his sister-in-law was the daughter of Dr Joseph Tholozan (1858-97), personal physician to Shah Nāṣir al-Dīn Qājār (r. 1848 -1896). It is probable that this portrait was a personal gift.


Contemporary portrait of Karīm Khān, founder of the Zand dynasty (Or.4938, f.1)



Further Reading
Charles Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum. 3 vols. London, 1876-83: Add.24904; Add.24903; Supplement. London, 1895: Or.4398
Malcolm, John. The History of Persia, from the Most Early Period to the Present Time. New ed. London, 1829. Vol 2.
A. K. S. Lambton, ʻMajor-General Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833) and “The History of Persia”’Iran 33 (1995), pp. 97-109
J. R. Perry, ʻZand dynastyʼ in Encyclopaedia Iranica online
Layla S.Diba and Maryam Ekhtiar, eds. Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, 1785-1925. London, 1998.
BL S.C.Sotheby(1): ʻAuctioneersʼ archival set of Sotheby’s sale catalogues 1739 to 22 October 1970ʼ. Add.24903 and Add.24904 formed lot 234 of a sale held 26 June 1862, ‘chiefly from the Library of a Collector’. They were purchased by the Museum for £4 8s.

Ursula Sims-Williams, Asian and African Studies

One of the best loved of the illustrated Persian manuscripts in the British Library is the Khamsah of Nizami Or. 6810. Made in Herat during the reign of Sultan Husayn Bayqara, and with one picture dated 900/1494-95, it contains some of the finest late 15th-century painting. The glorious colour and meticulous drawing of its illustrations strike the viewer immediately, while the depth and complexity of their meaning is endlessly fascinating. In addition the manuscript poses interesting problems of artistic attribution and patronage.

Harun al-Rashid and the barber. Ascribed in notes to Bihzad and to Mirak (BL Or.6810, f. 27v).

Illustrating a parable in Makhzan al-Asrar (‘Treasury of Secrets’), the first of the five books of the Khamsah, ‘Harun al-Rashid and the barber’ takes us inside a hammam (‘bathhouse’). We are well and truly inside since the plain doorway in the right marks the entry to an area of privacy, or relative privacy.  In its main saloon, men, with their gaze politely directed away from each other, are dressing or undressing with proper decorum. To the left is a more private space, its status is expressed in a more stately architecture: this is for the moment reserved for caliphal use. In it Harun al-Rashid is the direct object of attention of two attendants, and appears to have engrossed the activity of two more. This space is the focus of the narrative: the viewer’s eye has been led towards it from right to left, according to the reading direction of the Persian script. The text tells us that when Harun visits the hammam the barber who shaves his head asks for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Harun is incensed by this impertinence, which is, moreover, repeated on his subsequent visits.  Harun puts this problem to his vizier, remarking that it seems unwise to subject oneself to the double threat of an actual razor and a dagger-like word. The vizier speculates that the barber’s presumption might result from his standing over a treasure: the caliph should order him to move his position. Harun acts accordingly; standing on a different spot, the barber no longer feels himself the caliph’s equal; excavation reveals the treasure over which had been beneath his feet. 

Over and above the requirements of the narrative, the depiction of the hammam is the gift that the artist makes to the viewer. There are minutely observed practical details such as the soot deposited on the walls by the lamps in the private room, or the precise position of hands that wring a wet towel in the public space; and there is the symbolic detail that the caliph’s robes and crown are temporarily laid aside, so that in a sense he becomes a vulnerable man on a level with the others. There is careful observation and judgement in the use of colour: the dark buff tiles of the floor are evidently not glazed, so that even when wet they will not be slippery; their colour is beautifully set off by the array of blue towels of varying stripe that blazon the function of the establishment, and that are secured into the main composition by the rod that lifts them to or from the drying line.

Is this picture the work of the great painter Bihzad? The names of both Mirak, the older master, and of Bihzad have been written underneath it at an unknown date, but the majority of scholars would attribute it to Bihzad. Writing in 1605, the Mughal emperor Jahangir, then in possession of the manuscript and priding himself on his connoisseurship, asserted that 16 of its pictures were by Bihzad, five by Mirak, and one by ʿAbd al-Razzaq, though he did not specify which (See earlier post: ‘A Jewel in the Crown’).


The Prophet mounted on the Buraq and escorted by angels passing over the Kaʻbah (BL Or.6810, f. 5v).

One of the pictures to which no notes of attribution have been added is the ‘Miʿraj’ (‘ascent’), the picture of the Prophet Muhammad carried up into the heavens on the back of the Buraq, a mount with a human face—the Buraq’s face suggests the work of Mirak, the other faces less so. The Prophet is seen in a swirl of golden clouds and surrounded by angels, against a night sky. He is above the black-draped Kaʿbah, with the town of Mecca around it treated in fascinating detail, albeit in a rather persianate architecture replete with blue and turquoise tiling. The picture follows the type of one produced some 80 years earlier in the Miscellany for Iskandar Sultan BL Add. 27261 of 1410-11 (see earlier post: ‘The Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan’). The later picture has, however, two brilliant innovations. The Prophet is here looking around him in wonder, and the precinct of the Kaʿbah contains two human figures that are so tiny that the viewer seems to look down on them from an immense height.

Iskandar, in the likeness of Husayn Bayqara, with the seven sages. An inscription in the arch of the window is dated AH 900 (1494/95). (BL Or.6810, f. 214r).

This magnificent manuscript clearly draws upon the talents of artists of the royal workshop, but it does not display the name of Sultan Husayn Bayqara, who ruled Herat from 1469 to 1506, as patron, instead a line on one of the arches of Shirin’s palace (f. 62v) says that it was made for the Amir ʿAli Farsi Barlas, and it seems that he is depicted in the frontispiece. Nevertheless, it is beyond doubt that it is Sultan Husayn Bayqara who appears, in proxy portraiture, in illustrations to the story of Iskandar (Alexander the Great), as an ideal king, surrounded by philosophers (above) or showing respect for a holy man (below).

Iskandar, in the likeness of Husayn Bayqara, visiting the wise man in a cave. Ascribed to Bihzad underneath, but to Qasim ʻAli in the text panel. (BL Or.6810, f. 273r).

Thanks to the generosity of the Barakat Trust this manuscript has been fully digitised and can be viewed in our digitised manuscripts viewer (click here Or.6810). Follow this link for a detailed catalogue description with links to all of the miniatures.

Further Reading

Ebadollah Bahari, Bihzad: Master of Persian Painting, London and New York, 1996.
Basil Gray, Persian Painting, Geneva, 1961.
Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn D. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, Los Angeles, 1989.
John Seyller, ‘Inspection and valuation of manuscripts in the Imperial Mughal Library’, Artibus Asiae, LVII, 3/4 (1997), pp. 243-349.
Ivan Stchoukine, Les peintures des manuscrits Tîmûrides, Paris, 1954.

Barbara Brend, Independent scholar

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Two 15th century Timurid masterpieces to be digitised

Though Iran was officially neutral when war broke out in 1939, many Iranians were sympathetic towards Germany which, they hoped, might liberate them from years of British and Russian oppression. An increasing German presence combined with British concern for continued supplies of Iranian oil led to Operation Countenance, an Allied invasion launched on 25 August 1941. As a result Reza Shah was deposed and replaced by his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Iran was forced to abandon its neutral position though it did not actually declare war against Germany until September 1943. From 1941 onwards, British propaganda, published by the Ministry of Information (MOI), played a crucial role. Favouring a cultural approach, the MOI produced items such as the Shāhnāmah cartoons by the artist Kem (see our post ‘The Shahnameh as propaganda for World War II’) and the magazine Rūzgār-i naw, or The New Age which was published quarterly in Persian between 1941 and 1946.

The first and last issues of Rūzgār-i naw dated summer 1941 and spring 1946

Rūzgār-i naw was published by Hodder & Stoughton in London and Doubleday Doran in New York on behalf of the MOI. It was primarily a cultural and literary magazine. The editor was A.J. Arberry (1905-1969) who had been Assistant Librarian at the India Office from 1934 until war broke out when he was seconded to Postal Censorship for a short period before being transferred to the Ministry of Information. Arberry left the Ministry in 1944 to become Professor of Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, but the magazine continued to be published until 1946 when the MOI was dissolved.

Arberry worked closely with a team of specialists drawn from his colleagues at the India Office and the British Museum together with Iranians such as the distinguished scholar Mojtaba Minovi who was working for the BBC Persian Service. Articles covered general cultural topics with a focus on the British contribution to Persian studies and Persian and English literature. Articles on science and technology were also included but nothing on religion or any other subjects which might be regarded as potentially controversial.

The Reading Room at the India Office Library. William Hodgesʼ painting ʻA Group of Temples at Deogarh, Santal Parganas, Biharʼ hangs above the fireplace with a poster on the mantelpiece urging readers to save for victory. Note that at 11.35 am. the reading room seems to be quite empty!

The Reading Room at the British Museum.

The contents of the first issue were fairly typical of subsequent numbers, containing the following articles: ʻIllustrations to the Khamsah of Nizami in the British Museumʼ, by Lawrence Binyon; ʻThe biggest cities in the worldʼ; ʻNizami: life, work and ethicsʼ; ʻIranian metal-workʼ, by Basil Gray; ʻBibliography of Nizamiʼ, by C.A. Storey; Persian translation by Mojtaba Minovi of the ‘Hound of Heaven’ by the English poet Francis Thompson (1859-1907); ʻThe English constitution part 1: historical introductionʼ; ʻThe India Office Libraryʼ, by A.J. Arberry; ʻThe world of printʼ; ʻBritish wartime exportsʼ; and ʻEnglish successes in industrial researchʼ. Subsequent issues contained a series of English translations of modern Persian poets, Persian translations of modern English poets, descriptions of libraries, articles on China by Lionel Giles as well as one-offs such as ʻPersian language roots in Malay literatureʼ, by Sir Richard Winstedt and ʻThe land of Khotanʼ, by H.W. Bailey.

From ‘The land of Khotan’ by H.W. Bailey. This photograph of the Mint in Khotan shows newly printed banknotes spread out on the ground to dry in the sun before being put into use.

The covers always included coloured photographs, usually of miniatures in the British Museum, copies of which could be obtained free of charge. Apparently (Holman 2005, p. 218), the original photographic blocks were destroyed in the Blitz so copies had to be made from colour postcards. Nevertheless the quality of the paper and printing was good. One of the considerable merits was the large number (about 70 per issue) of black and white photographs (particularly portraits of British orientalists) and art work each issue contained – though attributions were unfortunately hardly ever included.  The first issue had in addition 4 colour plates.

Famous members of the Royal Asiatic Society: 1. Lord Reay, president 1893–1921; 2. Sir George Staunton; 3. Sir Charles James Lyall; 4. Henry Thomas Colebrooke, director and founder 1823–37 ; 5. Sir Monier Monier Williams; 6. Horace Hyman Wilson, president 1855–59; 7. Sir Henry Rawlinson.

An article on contemporary illustrated English books.

The MOI was concerned that its magazines should appear as commercial publications, hence the price of 1 shilling or 20 cents and the inclusion of advertising. It particularly favoured advertisements which ‘will advance British industrial and commercial prestige’ (Holman 2005, p. 217).

Some advertisements were especially tailored to the Iranian market, e.g. Michelin tyres advertising new style magic carpets (left) and Columbia recordings of ethnic music (right).

The magazine was judged sufficiently successful for the Ministry of Information to launch a companion magazine in Arabic in 1943. With the title al-Adab wa al-Fann, it was also published by Hodder & Stoughton who were proud to be associated with it (Holman 2005, p. 217). 15,000 copies of the Arabic magazine were distributed in the Middle East and North Africa and in India and Brazil. In Egypt, the Director-General of the Egyptian State Library in Cairo wrote in Sept 1944 that crowds of readers had been coming to read ‘this valuable magazine’ (Holman 2005, p. 218). It is possible that comparable data for Rūzgār-i naw may be available in the National Archives Kew. At any rate if the MOI was successful in winning over Iranian hearts, they must have been disillusioned a few years later when Britain’s involvement in the coup of 1953 toppled Iran’s democratically elected government and re-instated the Pahlavi regime. Nevertheless, Rūzgār-i naw testifies to a little known phase of Anglo-Iranian history besides being a wonderful resource for photographs of British orientalists.

Further reading

Valerie Holman, ‘Carefully Concealed Connections: The Ministry of Information and British Publishing, 1939- 1946ʼ, Book History, vol. 8 (2005), pp. 197-226.
Valerie Holman, ʻKem's Cartoons in the Second World Warʼ, History Today, vol. 52.3  (March 2002), pp. 21-7.
A. Wynn, ‘The Shāh-nāme and British propaganda in Irān in World War IIʼ, Manuscripta orientalia 16/1 (June 2010), pp. 3-5 + back cover.
A.J. Arberry. ʻThe disciple: A. J. Arberryʼ, in Oriental Essays: Portraits of Seven Scholars, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1960,  pp. 233-56.
Encyclopaedia Iranica:  ‘Anglo-Iranian relations iii: the Pahlavi period’, by R.W. Ferrier; ‘Russia ii: Iranian-Soviet relations (1917-1991)’ by N. M. Mamedova; Great Britain xiii. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), by F. Safiri and H. Shahidi.

On the Ministry of Information, see  ‘Make Do and Mend’: A Publishing and Communications History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-45 a research project at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London.

On 2nd World War German propaganda, see ʻGerman propaganda in Sharjahʼ, by Louis Allday, Gulf History/Arabic Specialist, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership.

For a pdf of the contents of each issue click here

Ursula Sims-Williams, Asian and African Studies

Related articles

The Shahnameh as Propaganda for World War II

Imagine being a position to commission a magnificent one-volume selection of the reading matter you would most like to carry around on your travels – a kind of miniature personal library. With no expense spared, you could order the most skilful calligraphers in the land to write it, the best painters to illustrate it, the best illuminators to decorate it, the best binders to bind it…

Such was the good fortune of Jalāl al-Dīn Iskandar Sultan ibn ‘Umar Shaykh, grandson of the famous Central Asian conqueror Tīmūr (Tamerlane). Iskandar ruled much of southern Iran for just five years (1409-1414) before meeting his death after rebelling against Shāh Rukh, his overlord. Iskandar was an enthusiastic and discerning patron of the arts and learning, and a number of the exquisite Persian manuscripts produced for him have survived. Amongst the most remarkable of these are his two Miscellanies, one of which is preserved at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon (MS. L.A. 161) and the other at the British Library (Add. 27261), now fully digitised as part of our Digital Access to Persian Manuscripts sponsored by the Iran Heritage Foundation and others. Thanks to a generous grant from the Andor Trust, selected folios from the London volume are now available to view and study, with notes and a number of translated extracts, as a ʻTurning the Pagesʼ presentation.

The opening of Timur’s grandson Iskandar Sultan’s pocket miscellany containing 23 works. Copied 813-4/1410-11 (BL Add.27261, ff 2v-3r)

The Miscellanies of Iskandar Sultan, then, are illustrated compendia of texts. Those in the first half of our volume were copied by Muḥammad al-Ḥalvā’ī, and the remainder by Nāṣir al-Kātib; their work is dated 813-814/1410-1411. We do not know who was responsible for the illumination and paintings; but some of the latter are probably by Pīr Aḥmad Bāgh-shimālī, reputedly the greatest artist of his time. Notable features of the book include the small page size (182 x 129 mm.) and writing; exquisitely detailed and inventive illumination; and jewel-like miniature paintings. The manuscript has been skilfully restored by British Library conservators and rebound in traditional Islamic style to open as flat as possible. Because the new binding is undecorated, for ‘Turning the Pages’ the covers from a different manuscript were used instead.

The texts chosen by the royal patron and/or his advisers could hardly have been more miscellaneous. They include a wide-ranging selection of religious, narrative and lyrical poetry; in prose, there are treatises on astronomy and astrology, geometry, medicine, farriery, alchemy, history, and Islamic law. In this ʻTurning the Pagesʼ production we have tried to make a representative selection of the 1092 pages (i.e. 546 folios), in the hope of doing justice, as far as possible, to the quality and wide variety of texts, decorative designs, and images.

A detailed description of the contents is available here. For present purposes, therefore, it will suffice to mention some of their interesting features, with a brief discussion of a few pages by way of example.

The poetical texts in the first half of the Miscellany all consist of parts or the whole of well-known lengthy works in masnavī form (rhyming couplets).

In this miniature, an illustration to Niẓāmī’s Iskandar-nāmah (‘Epic of Alexander the Great’), Alexander and his servant witness the enchanting and innocent spectacle of young girls bathing together at night in a pool out in the wilds. The sophistication of this painting is to some extent disguised by the simplicity of the composition (BL Add.27261, f 286r)

The Miscellany also includes qaṣīdas, poems in monorhyme, in praise of the Prophet Muḥammad or the Imams of the Shī‘a. Others are technical tours de force, single poems incorporating as many different metres or rhetorical devices as possible. Next comes a selection of over two hundred poems in the shorter ghazal form. This is complemented by a more extensive anthology, occupying the outer text panels of almost three hundred pages. Categorised variously by subject, genre or metre, it contains ghazals and other poems by over three hundred authors. Famous contributors include Farrukhī, Manūchihrī, Nāṣir-i Khusraw, Salmān-i Sāvajī, Amīr Khusraw, Ḥāfiẓ (one of the earliest known textual sources), and ‘Imād-i Faqīh. These last two both feature in a previous blog posting: see Jahangir’s Hafiz and the Madrasa Jurist. Others are little known today; whether their verse was fashionable in 8th/14th century southern Iran, and what criteria were applied by the compilers of Iskandar Sultan’s two Miscellanies would be an intriguing topic for literary historians to investigate.

As for the prose contents of Add. 27261, their subject areas have been enumerated above. The inclusion of a summary of jurisprudence according to the Ja‘farī school (mazhab) followed by Imāmī (Ithnā-‘Asharī) Shī‘īs is another indication, coupled with the above-mentioned poems in praise of the Imams, of interest in Shī‘ism at a time when the great majority of Iran’s population was Sunnī. There is also a concise guide to sacred law pertaining to religious obligations attributed (even though it is in Persian) to Abū Ḥanīfa, main founder of the (Sunnī) Ḥanafī juristic school.

Ā’īnah-’i Sikandarī, a treatise on alchemy named after Iskandar Sultan, was written expressly for him, as was Risālah-’i Kibrīt-i aḥmar (‘Red Sulphur’), on the same subject. Mukhtaṣar dar ‘ilm-i Uqlīdis. ‘Elements of Geometry’, presents some theorems from the first book of Euclid’s work, complete with illuminated geometrical figures and adorned with illuminated margins incorporating verses in praise of a patron and here doubtless intended for Iskandar Sultan. Here is an example:

From a translation of Euclid's ‘Elements of Geometry’ (BL Add.27261, f 344r)

Finally, a large proportion of the second half of the Miscellany is devoted to astronomy and astrology. This fact, coupled with the magnificent illuminated ‘Horoscope of Iskandar Sultan’ (now preserved at the Wellcome Institute, just half a mile along Euston Road from the British Library) suggest that the Sultan had a strong interest in such matters. The computation of calendars and the use of the astrolabe are described in Ma‘rifat-i taqvīm va usṭurlāb. Lastly, some of the 340 pages devoted to Rawẓat al-munajjimīn, a comprehensive early treatise on astrology, are enlivened by colourful, imaginative and exotic drawings in the margins. At the end of the copying process some blank pages remained, and it appears that at least one artist was literally ‘given carte blanche’ to decorate them in any matter he wished.
Marginal illustrations (BL Add.27261, f 542v)

Who decided what to put into the Miscellany? Did Iskandar choose for himself, or did others help? The manuscript has sometimes been described as a kind of encyclopaedia, but even with the contents of the Lisbon volume added, one would not only have a few subject areas covered; there is an abundance of great imaginative poetry but little practical information. If asked to design a ‘Swiss knife’ book for a Sultan, I think I might include some of the following (besides the poetry and jurisprudence): a cookbook; guides to hunting and to edible plants; at least as much geography as history; a primer of navigation by land and sea; a concise multilingual phrasebook; and prayers, passages from Scripture, and other words of wisdom and consolation for hard times. (The British Library has a kind of miniature miscellany compiled by the novelist George Eliot.) In any case, as a great bibliophile Iskandar must have been a happy man when the Miscellany was first presented to him for inspection. We hope you too will enjoy exploring the ‘Turning the Pages’ version of the Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan – and, perhaps, choosing what you would put in your Miscellany.

For a detailed catalogue description with links to the individual works and paintings see Description of Add. 27261.

Further Reading

Basil Gray, Persian Painting (London, 1961 and reprinted).

Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn M. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century (Los Angeles; Washington, DC, 1989).

Priscilla Soucek, ‘The Manuscripts of Iskandar Sultan: Structure and Content’ in Timurid Art and Culture, ed. L. Golombek and M. Subtelny (Leiden and New York, 1992), pp. 116-131.

Muhammad Isa Waley, Asian and African Studies

The function of seals as symbols of textual authority and ownership is deeply rooted in the Islamic world, especially in Arabic and Persian-speaking societies. Historically, seals were used for authorising various documents, including letters and legal contracts, and for marking the ownership of books and manuscripts. Edward William Lane attests to this in his record of 19th century Egyptian society: ‘Almost every person who can afford it has a seal-ring, even though he be a servant’ (Lane, p. 49).

It is interesting to learn that Arabic-script seals were also used by British colonial officers. This was a long-established practice in India where officials of the East India Company were theoretically acting as ‘servants’ of the Mughal emperor (Gallop and Porter, pp. 66-7). This custom set a lasting precedent and we find British colonial officers using Islamic-style seals well into the 19th and 20th centuries.

How might we understand the use of seals by non-Muslim Europeans in the context of Empire? A few examples from the Middle East and Persian Gulf are given here from the British Library’s manuscripts and the India Office Records.


Left: Seal of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf from a letter dated 10 August 1909  inscribed in Persian:  باليوز دولت انكليس در خليج فارس  Bālyūz[1]-i dawlat-i ingilīs dar khalīj-i fārs ‘British Resident in the Persian Gulf’ (British Library, IOR/R/15/1/752, f. 53v)‎
Right: Seal of the First Assistant to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf from a letter dated 7 July 1898 inscribed in Persian: باليوزكري دولت بهية قيصرة انكليس در خليج فارس  Bā[ly]ū[z]karī dawlat-i bahīyat-i qayṣarat-i ingilīs dar khalīj-i fārs ‘Deputy Resident of Her Britannic Majesty in the Persian Gulf’ (British Library, IOR/R/15/1/753, f. 34v)


Britain maintained its imperial hegemony over the Persian Gulf from its administrative headquarters, or Residency, at Bushire on the southern coast of modern-day Iran. In the latter half of the 19th century, both the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and his deputy possessed seals with their positions rendered into Persian. Both seal impressions are rectangular and measure 22 x 20mm with inscriptions in a clear nasta‘liq script.

Another example is the seal of Edward Charles Ross who served as Political Resident in the Persian Gulf from 1872 to 1891 and was an avid collector of antiquities (his collections in the British Museum can be seen here). His seal is the same size, style and rectangular shape as that of the Resident’s seal, but also includes his name.


Seal of Edward Charles Ross from a letter dated 1 June 1887, inscribed in Persian:
‎ادورد چارلس راص باليوز دولت بهية انكليس در خليج فارس  Idward Chārls Rāṣ bālyūz-i dawlat-i bahīyat-i ingilīs dar khalīj-i fārs ‘Edward Charles Ross, British Resident in the Persian Gulf’ (British Library, IOR/R/15/1/752, f. 147v)


Not all seals were rectangular. Some appear as circles or ovals. One such example is that of Captain Robert Taylor who served as the British Resident in Baghdad and Basra from 1828 to 1843. As well as being a British colonial officer, Taylor amassed an extensive collection of Oriental manuscripts. Many of these were acquired by the British Museum and are now housed in the British Library (Add Ms. 23252-23606).  His seal appears in many of these manuscripts attesting to his ownership. It is a circle with a diameter of 18mm. It contains his name in naskh script with a tughra-like flourish: ‘abduhu Taylur, ‘his servant, Taylor’ (Cook, n. 20, p. 81). Again, Lane notes in respect of this usage (Lane, p. 48): ‘The name is accompanied by the words ‘his servant… signifying the servant, or worshipper of God’. According to Arabic codicology expert Adam Gacek, prefacing a name with ‘abduhu, ‘his servant’, that is the servant of Allāh, is a frequent feature of Arabic seals and expresses the possessor’s humility in relation to God (Gacek, p. 90).


Colophon of the Arabic version of De sphaericis (Kitāb al-Akar) by Theodosius of Bithynia, copied at Yazd in 1605 by Ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥīm Abū al-Qāsim Yaḥyā al-Astarābādī, containing the seal of Captain Robert Taylor inscribed in Arabic: عبده تيلر  ‘abduhu Taylur  ‘His Servant, Taylor’ (British Library, Add. MS. 23570, f. 62r)


Another example is the seal of John Calcott Gaskin who served as the assistant to the Political Resident at Bushire at the end of the 19th century, and later as the first Political Agent at Bahrain from 1900 to 1903. In comparison with the other seals presented here, his is oval and very small, measuring 19 x 9mm. The inscription consists of his name in nasta‘liq script and is decorated with a vine and floral motif.


Seal of John Calcott Gaskin’s from a letter dated 25 June 1899 inscribed in Arabic script: كاسكين Kāskīn (IOR/R/15/1/753, f 88v)


Outside the India Office, we find other Europeans employed in the Gulf using Arabic seals. One such example is Charles Dalrymple Belgrave who was employed as Adviser to the Bahrain Government from 1926 until 1957. His oval-shaped seal (below) is the same size as those of the ruling Al Khalifah family with his name, C D Belgrave [balkrayf sī dī] rendered into naskh script. There is also a decorative tughra design that does not appear to form part of the inscription.


Letter of the Regency Council (majlis al-wisāyah), dated 30 January 1938, bearing the seals of Shaikh ‘Abdullah bin ‘Isa Al Khalifah (top), Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifah (middle) and Charles Dalrymple Belgrave (bottom). Belgrave’s seal is inscribed: بلكريف سي دي Balkrayf Sī Dī  ‘C[harles] D[alrymple] Belgrave’ (British Library, IOR/R/15/2/181, f 39)


As documented in his diary, we find that Belgrave was well aware of the authority that seals carried. In an entry dated 30 May 1930, the elderly blind leader and legal authority of the Sunni community (qāḍī) of Bahrain had more or less insinuated to Belgrave that ‘his favourite wife had stolen [his seal] from him’ and had given it to another man to seal papers. Belgrave has a devastating realisation and notes: ‘If we admit the invalidity of his signature, all documents since he became blind are liable to be queried’.
 
Another incident a year later involved Belgrave’s own seal. In a diary entry dated 29 May 1932, he writes that a certain ‘Ali bin Husayn had recovered the seal out of his ring which had fallen out during an affray. He reflects: ‘I am lucky to have got it back as it is the one I seal all official papers with and it would be awkward if I lost it’.

The examples given demonstrate that the practice of British colonial officers using Arabic and Persian seals continued from the time of the Mughals well into the 20th century. As we have seen, seals could signify ownership, authorship and station, and British officials, such as Belgrave, understood their use and potential abuse. We can, therefore, understand the use of seals as a way of aesthetically and textually performing Empire, or as ‘Ornamentalism’, to borrow a term coined by David Cannadine. This was done by means of the cultural appropriation of a recognisable ‘Islamic’ symbol to make hierarchy, authority, legitimacy and power ‘visible, immanent and actual’ (Cannadine, p. 122).

Sources and Further Reading

‘Belgrave Diaries’, Papers of Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, 1926-1957, University of Exeter, Special Collections
David Cannadine, Ornamentalis: How the British Saw Their Empire (2001)
Michael Cook, ‘The Provenance of Kitāb Lam‘ al-Shihāb fī Sīrat Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Wahhāb’, Journal of Turkish Studies, 10 (1986), pp. 79-86
Adam Gacek, ‘Ownership statements and seals in Arabic manuscripts’, Manuscripts of the Middle East, 2 (1987), pp. 88-94
Annabel Teh Gallop and Venetia Porter, Lasting Impressions: Seals from the Islamic World (2012)
Edward William Lane, An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1895 edition)

Daniel Lowe, Arabic Language and Gulf History Specialist,
British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership
Twitter: @dan_a_lowe
 

[1] The term bālyūz was used to refer to the Resident in both Arabic and Persian. Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish, it was derived from the Venetian Italian balio (ambassador), itself derived from the Latin bajulus (porter, carrier; administrator). The word has similar a origin to the word ‘bailiff’, which made its way into English through French.