Persian manuscript.- Rumi (Jalal ad-Din) Masnavi [Sufi Poetry], copied by the scribe Ahmadallah, known as Hakim, Persian manuscript on paper, 650 pp., text written horizontally in two columns of 17 lines to the page in small nast'aliq script in black ink, and approximately 32 lines written diagonally in inner borders of each page, catchwords written in outer borders, inner and outer borders ruled in blue, red and gold, significant verses picked out in red ink throughout, text interspersed with illuminated corner-pieces decorated with floral motifs in colours and gold, one double page of illumination in colours and gold at the beginning incorporating the opening verses of the poem (torn at inner margin just into illumination), text interspersed with other illuminated pages throughout, seal impression of "Nur Muhammad" at end, some marginal water-staining and a few repairs to edges, contemporary calf, gilt, lower joint cracked, 8vo (219 x 125mm.), Kashmir, 5^th Jumada al-Thani, A.H. 1243 / [24^th December 1827].

⁂ Rumi was born in Balk in 1207-8, and died in Konya in 1273-4. "Maulana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, the founder of the order of Dervishes called after him Maulavis, is by general consent considered the greatest of the Sufi poets of Persia". "The Masnavi ,or, as it is often called, the "Spiritual Masnavi", is the favourite text book of the Sufis. It is a vast collection of moral precepts and religious reflexion, with commentary on texts from the Qur'an, and sayings of the Prophet, illustrated by numerous anecdotes". For further reading see C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, Part II, Oxford, 1966, pp 584b - 592b.

The scribe Ahmadallah, known as Hakim, is recorded as the author of a medical work entitled Khulasat al-tibb, and his name is given as Ahmadallah, titled Hakim Masih al-Zaman, known as Imam Bakhsh. This manuscript is in the Majlis Library in Tehran.