[IO Islamic 570] رسائل الاعجاز

• Rasâ’il-ali’jâz.
• This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1219 in the India Office collections.
• [metadata: Hermann Ethé, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, 2 vols. (Oxford: India Office, 1903): volume 1, number 570 here with notations and hyperlinks].

1219

Rasâ’il-ali’jâz (رسائل الاعجاز).

Amîr Khusrau’s famous work on epistolography and elegant prose-writing, with numerous specimens both of official documents and of the author’s own letters, entitled رسائل الاعجاز or اعجاز خسروى, and completed according to the statement in Rieu ii. p. 527, A.H. 719 (A.D. 1319); an earlier date, at least for the completion of the second risâlah, is given in W. Pertsch, Berlin Cat., p. 1006, viz, A.H. 716, 7th of Shawwâl (A.D. 1316, Dec. 23); see besides these two references, No. 1337 of the Bodleian Cat., and Elliot, History of India, iii. p. 566. It consists of a preface, an introduction (ديباچه), and five risâlas, each of which is subdivided into several khaṭṭs (خطّ), ḥarfs (حرف), etc.

Contents:

Preface, on fol. 1^b, beginning: هذا الكتاب بفضل الله ذى الكرم انشأت سحرًا لصيد الخ.

Introduction, on fol. 10^a, last line (ديباچۀ كتاب رسائل الاعجاز).

First risâlah, in ten khaṭṭs ( الرسالة الاولى فى المفردات و المركّبات تشتمل على عشرة خطوط), on fol. 15^a.

Second risâlah, in nine khaṭṭs ( الرسالة الثانية فى المرتّبات من المكتوبات يشتمل على تسعة خطوط), on fol. 53^b. In the Berlin copy (W. Pertsch, loc. cit) this risâlah has ten khaṭṭs, like the first.

Third risâlah, in two khaṭṭs ( الرسالة الثالثة من الاعجاز فى اللطائف من المصنوعات يشتمل على خطّين), on fol. 149^b.

Fourth risâlah, in five khaṭṭ ( الرسالة الرابعة فى البدائع من المعنويّات تشتمل على خمسة خطوط), on fol. 182^b.

Fifth risâlah, in six khaṭṭs (الرسالة الخامسة فى السوابق من المنشآت تشتمل على ستّة خطوط), on fol. 277^b. Numerous marginal glosses and additions, written by the same hand as the text. The headings, given here, are taken from the following copy. Dated Shawwâl, A.H. 1084 (A.D. 1674, January-February), by Sayyid Ja’far ibn Sayyid Ṭâhir Ḳâdirî. The first risâlah of the رسائل الاعجاز has been lithographed in Lucknow, 1865; the whole work, under the title of اعجاز خسرو, in the same place, 1876.

No. 570, ff. 324, ll. 21; careless Nasta’lîḳ; illuminated frontispieces at the beginning and at the top of the last four risâlas; size, 12^1/8 in. by 6^7/8 in.