AN INCOMPLETE ARABIC SYNTAX AND GRAMMAR HANDBOOK BY MUHAMMAD JAMAL UD-DIN IBN MALEK (D. 1274 AD)
Post-Safavid Iran, dated 1138 AH (1725 - 1726 AD)

Arabic manuscript on paper, 68ff. plus two fly-leaves, each folio with 16ll. of black ink naskh script, the first section (pp. 1 - 67) introducing a book of Arabic syntax in prose 'Mukhtasar fi 'elm an-Nahw', chapter numbers in red, followed by a second section (pp. 68 - 136) featuring an Alfieh (a ‘one thousand’ line poem to ease the learning of an academic subject) on rules of Arabic grammar, catchwords, within black and gold rules, the colophon signed Muhammad Hossein ibn Abdullah al-Khorasani, inscribed with the date 1138 AH (1725 - 26 AD), in soft board binding, polychrome brocade ribbon to the sides, a fragment from an imperial purple ribbon woven with a polychrome crown to the spine top, the text panel 13.3cm x 7.3cm, the folio 18cm x 11.2cm.

Provenance: Galerie Fischer, Lucerne (CH), 'Persische Manuskripte und Miniaturen' auction, 4 December 1968, lot 1343.