1840.] Asiatic Society.. 1137 



it is the catalogue. The last words are the writer's name, Ddvar Bakhsh, a piece of 

 information of no great consequence. On the first blank leaf some one has written, 

 barbarously enough, in Roman characters*, what I believe is intended for Persian, and 

 apparently signifies, 'A Catalogue of the Library of Ferzada Kole ;' but even 

 this affords us very little enlightenment. I am led, however, to infer from circum- 

 stances—in the first place, that the book has been written within the last forty or fifty 

 years ; this is evident from its mentioning (p. 90) the Diwdn of Sauda, a Hindustani 

 poet, who died only a few years before the commencement of the present century. 

 Secondly, it is a catalogue of the library of some prince, as may indeed be inferred 

 from its extent, but s'till more from an expression that occurs in page 95, viz., 'A list 

 of the books remaining in the old chest belonging to his August and Sublime 

 Highness.' Thirdly, and lastly, there is every reason to infer, that the prince alluded 

 to was Indian, from the number of Hindi books mentioned in the Catalogue, and in 

 the list referring to the old chest aforesaid. 



" ' If the above inferences may be relied on, we have reason to hope that the original 

 and genuine text of Tabari, the Livy of Arabia, may yet be recovered It would 

 seem that an ancient manuscript of it did lately exist in India, and is, in all proba- 

 bility, there still. As to its being the autograph of the author, I believe we are to 

 take that expression ' cum grano sal is' as we do the originals of Corregio and Rubens, 

 &c., so very plentiful among picture-dealers and amateurs. But whether the MS. 

 here alluded to, be, or be not, the author's own copy, is a question of minor importance. 

 The main object is to rescue it, ere it be too late, from that state of obscurity in which 

 it at present lies, and to that end I have been induced to lay this brief and imperfect 

 notice of it before the members of the Asiatic Society. It is probable that some indi- 

 vidual out of that learned body may be able to trace the history of the MS. catalogue 

 here presented. The booksellers from whom I had it, could tell me nothing as to 

 whence it came, or whose it had been. 



" * It would be tedious to notice many of the rare works mentioned in the catalogue ; 

 there are a few, however, which I cannot pass over. In page 11, we have 'The 

 Mustafa Nama, in the metre of the Shahnama, containing the history of Persia 

 (or rather of Islamism) from Muhammad to Tahmasp of the Sufi family, amounting 

 to 104,000 couplets, beautifully written, and ornamented with gold dust.' Such is 

 the literal translation of the description given of this stupendous work, which is very 

 nearly twice the size of the Shahnama, and embraces a period of about a thousand 

 years. 



*' ' Further on, among the works on Philosophy, Logic, and Rhetoric, are mentioned 

 several pieces translated from Aristotle, Plato, and other wise men of Greece, all of 

 which are highly interesting. There is also a Persian translation of the Makamat 

 of Hariri, which would be invaluable in explaining many passages of that learned, 

 but, to us, obscure writer.' 



*'To the above remarks, written nearly two years ago, I must now add my altered 

 belief that the Tarikh i Tabari, mentioned in the catalogue, is nothing else than 

 Colonel Baillie's MS. of the Jdmi al Taiuarikh. This I infer from the identity of 

 the description given of both, and, above all, from the number of pictures agreeing in 

 both. The doubts which 1 might feel as to the genuineness of Tabari's autograph, do 



* It runs thwiy—Ferisht Khootub Khaona Fi'r;:adu Kol^. 



