Qur'ans & Qur'anic texts

Single volume, decorated manuscript on polished light blue paper, in Arabic, complete, 335 x 230 mm; single column, 15 lines black cursive verging on naskh, surah headings and qur'anic divisions to margins in red, catch-words, nineteenth-century manuscript note relating to the provenance of the manuscript pasted to front free endpaper, additional folios of prayers at the end of the volume (copied in the same hand as the Qur'an), excellent condition internally; contemporary red morocco with flap, tooled and ruled with cream-coloured paper onlays to medallions, extremities lightly rubbed else a very good example.

Single large panel containing the entire text of the Qur'an copied on 30 individual sheets (one Juz' per sheet), illuminated manuscript on paper, in Arabic, complete, total 1170 by 721 mm (each Qur'anic panel 155 by 120 mm); each panel in single column, 50 lines miniature black nasta'liq script, 5 illuminated cartouches above the text with text in gold thuluth against red and blue backgrounds, illuminated polychrome head-piece opening the first panel of text, gilt decorated borders around each of the 30 panels of text, in clean and crisp condition.

Single volume, illuminated manuscript on polished paper, in Arabic with some interlinear translations to Farsi, complete, 116 leaves, collation: i1 (single font free endpaper), ii-xiv8, iv6 (last 5 leaves blank), 190 by 125 mm; single column, 7 lines fine scribal black naskh, with some interlinear translations in red nasta'liq, one large illuminated polychrome head-piece and a further 14 illuminated banners opening sections of the text, each with heading in gold thuluth against decorated foliate designed very skillfully executed, some minor water-staining to top edges (causing slight loss to margins of first to leaves) not affecting text, text slightly faded in places, else bright and attractive condition; housed in fine contemporary lacquered boards painted with floral designs within ornamental medallions (in the manner of Islamic bindings), with gold additions to outer covers, inner covers painted with narcissus flower designs of a very high quality, boards backed in leather, spine and extremities slightly rubbed, a few scratches to lacquer, overall very attractive binding.

Single volume, lithographed on paper, in Arabic with some printed annotations in Farsi, complete, 142 by 95 mm; printed in single column, from a qur'an copied in 21 lines black naskh, with marginal annotations in shekasteh script, opening two leaves of illumination, surah headings and polychrome additions throughout hand-painted by a contemporary Qajar illuminator, a small smudge to second leaf else very bright and attractive condition, some later manuscript ownership inscriptions and seals to endpapers; housed in fine contemporary Qajar lacquered boards, outer covers painted with elegant floral designs framed within multiple gilt rulings, and inner covers decorated with spiralling gilt vines set against a striking black background, in very good condition.

Five volumes, each containing one Juz' of the Qur'an, illuminated manuscripts on thick polished buff paper, in Arabic, containing Juz' VI (An-Nisa 4:148 to Al-Maidah 5:82), Juz' VIII (Al-An'am 6:111 to Al-Araf 7:170), Juz' XI (At-Towbah 9:94 to Hud 11:5), Juz' XVII (Al-Anbiya 21:1 to Al-Hajj 22:78) and Juz' XXX (An-Naba 78:1 to An-Nas 114:6), each Juz' 16-19 leaves (together 84 leaves, plus some contemporary free endleaves to a couple volumes) and all textually complete in themselves, 265 by 170 mm; single column, 11 lines bold black naskh script with diacritics, some vocalisation in red, surah headings throughout in red thuluth script, large polychrome head-pieces (unwan) opening each of the Juz', these executed to a very high standard by a fine hand and illuminated in gold, leaves ruled in blue and gold throughout, contemporary catch-words, some smudges and light staining, a few sections cockled from damp; housed in uniform contemporary Qajar lacquered boards, inside covers painted and ruled in red, outer covers a dark tan with gilt floral pattern to frame outer edges, all rebacked, a little worn in places.

Concertina-style miniature prayerbook, illuminated manuscript in Arabic, complete, 16 conjoined leaves, 48 by 48 mm; numerous illustrations including images of the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, attributions to Prophet Muhammad through depictions of his hand prints, foot prints, and his Seal of Prophecy, with further illustrations pertaining to the other prophets such as the sword of 'Ali, all heightened in gilt, versos and outer boards backed in contemporary marbled paper.

Single volume, decorated manuscript on western imported paper, from a mixed stock including the watermark of a crescent moon in a shield and the letters 'EIV', in Arabic, complete, 124 leaves, 255 by 180 mm; single column, 16 lines informal cursive script in black with headings and important words in red, catch-words throughout, numerous contemporary and later marginal inscriptions, some light staining (as often), some gatherings becoming loose; contemporary provincial binding of strips of leather over wooden boards with flap, worn with sections of leather missing.

Illuminated manuscript on paper, in Arabic, containing the first 7 aya of the first surah of the Qur'an (al-Fatihah 1:1 - 1:7), 490 by 380 mm.; single column, 5 lines large scribal nasta'liq diagonally inscribed, outlined in cloud shapes and set against an elaborately illuminated gold background decorated with intricately illustrated spiralling floral patterns with polychrome colour additions, lower right-hand corner containing the scribe's name and date of completion, panel framed within multiple polychrome and gilt rulings, including a banner formed of multiple gold cartouches in Safavid style of illumination; very clean and bright condition; leaf mounted to thick card.

Illuminated manuscript, in Arabic, on paper, 142 leaves (plus 5 contemporary leaves at the front and an additional 3 at the end of the volume) containing the forty poems preceded by two additional du'a and also including a contemporary fihrist at the end of the volume, 260 by 165 mm.; in two or four columns, 12 lines confident scribal and angular black naskh, most leaves with contemporary catch-words, contemporary foliation (corresponding to the fihrist) in red, 48 illuminated polychrome headings and decorated banners to open each of the sections, most of these heightened in gilt or silver, ruling throughout in gilt, some contemporary marginalia and corrections, preliminary and penultimate leaves with contemporary annotations and export stamps from Iran dated 1311 AS; some faint scattered stains, occasional chips or creases to outer edges of leaves, a few early paper repairs to outer edges (not affecting main body of text), overall very bright and attractive condition; housed in fine leather-backed lacquered boards, cut-out medallions with filigree details to covers deep-set with red and gold floral devices set against a striking black background accented by gilt corner pieces and a double-ruled border, outer corners and extremities slightly chipped with fractional loss to pigment, small tear to leather along spine.