Illuminated Manuscripts

While the Princeton's Manuscripts of the Islamic World selections emphasize rare or unique texts of academic research interest, it also includes a selection of Persian illuminated manuscripts and Mughal miniatures, such as a magnificent 18th-century Indian album of miniatures and calligraphy.

1. كتاب تحفة الملوك على مذهب الامام ابي حنيفة رضي الله عنه / تأليف الشيخ الامام العالم العامل زين الملة والدين محمد بن ابي بكر الرازي رضي الله عنه وارضاه and Kitāb Tuḥfat al-mulūk ʻalá madhhab al-Imām Abī ḥanīfah raḍiya Allāhu ʻanhu / taʾlīf al-Shaykh al-imām al-ʻālim al-ʻāmil Zayn al-millah wa-al-dīn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Rāzī raḍiya Allāhu ʻanhu wa-arḍāhu.

Call number:
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 905Y and Electronic Resource
Date:
1421
Author:
Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr, active 1261
Abstract:
Short treatise on fiqh according to Abū Ḥanīfah.

2. [Illuminated leaf from the Mūnis al-aḥrār].

Call number:
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 94G and Electronic Resource
Date:
1341
Author:
Jājarmī, Muḥammad ibn Badr al-Dīn, 14th cent
Abstract:
Leaf from chapter 29 of the Mūnis al-aḥrār, a collection of poetry. Each verse alternates with a corresponding illustration as follows: battle gear; weapons; fruit trees; four types of doves; peacock, parrot, and nightingale; and jewelry.

3. كتاب السياسة في تدبير المملكة وحفظ الرياسة and Kitāb al-Siyāsah fī tadbīr al-mamlakah wa-ḥifẓ al-riyāsah.

Call number:
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 462H
Date:
1471
Abstract:
Elegant copy of the Sirr al-asrār, made for (bi-rasm) the library of Yashbak al-Ashrafī Amīr Dawādār al-Kabīr wa-Bāsh al-ʻAsākir al-Islāmīyah (illuminated frontispice, fol. 1a). A ms. made under the same patronage is found in Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, Arabic Ms. 4169 (see Schimmel, A. Calligraphy and Islamic culture, 1983, 180, n. 173).

4. كتاب حيرة الفقهاء and Kitāb Ḥayrat al-fuqahāʼ.

Call number:
Oversize Islamic Manuscripts, New Series no. 690q and Electronic Resource
Date:
1488
Author:
Ṣadr al-Shahīd, ʻUmar ibn ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz, 1090 or 1091-1141
Abstract:
Treatise on Ḥanafī fiqh. This copy was made for Sulṭān Qāyitbāy (see fol. 1a).

5. [Portrait of Riz̤ā ʻAbbāsī].

Call number:
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 96G and Electronic Resource
Date:
1673-1674
Author:
Muṣavvir, Muʻīn, b. ca. 1617
Abstract:
Portrait of the famous Persian miniaturist Riz̤ā ʻAbbāsī by his student Muʻīn Muṣavvir. The subject wears spectacles and is holding a picture of a European which he is painting, with the implements of his craft spread around him (description by Moghadam).

6. كتاب الشفاء بتعريف حقوق المسطفى / تأليف الشيخ الامام الحافظ ابي الفضل عاياض بن موسى اليحصبي and Kitāb al-Shifāʼ bi-taʻrīf ḥuqūq al-Muṣṭafá / taʼlīf al-Shaykh al-imām al-ḥāfiẓ Abī al-Faḍl ʻIyāḍ ibn Mūsá al-Yaḥṣubī.

Call number:
Oversize Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 23Yq and Electronic Resource
Date:
1368
Author:
ʻIyāḍ ibn Mūsá, 1083-1149
Abstract:
Treatise on the devotional obligations of the Muslims towards the Prophet.

7. كتاب تفسير القرآن العظيم المعروف بالجلالين / للشيخين الاماماني العالمان العلامان المجتهدان العلامة جلال الدين محمد المحلي والعلامة جلال الدين عبد الرحمن السيوطي رحمهما الله and Kitāb Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-ʻaẓīm al-maʻrūf bi-al-Jalālayn / lil-Shaykhayn al-Imāmānī al-ʻālimāni al-ʻallāmāni al-mujtahidāni al-ʻallāmah Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Maḥallī wa-al-ʻallāmah Jalāl al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suyūṭī raḥimahumā Allāh.

Call number:
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 152Y and Electronic Resource
Date:
1300-1499
Author:
Maḥallī, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, 1389-1459
Abstract:
Elegant copy of the Tafsīr al-Jalālayn.

8. كتاب جامع الفصولين and Kitāb Jāmiʻ al-Fuṣūlayn

Call number:
Islamic Manuscripts, Garrett no. 597Y and Electronic Resource
Date:
1565
Author:
Bedreddin, Şeyh, 1358?-1420
Abstract:
Handbook on Islamic law in forty faṣl composed in 814/1411 (GAL), based on the Fuṣūl by Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Ustarūshanī (GAL: Ustrūshanī, d. 632/1234) and that by ʻAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Abī Bakr al-Marghinānī (d. ca. 670/1271). See description of contents in the preamble, fol. 1b-9a.