The Delhi Persian manuscript collection: enhancing access and exploring context (PhD Placement)
The Delhi Persian manuscript collection: enhancing access and exploring context (PhD Placement)
The Delhi Persian manuscript collection: enhancing access and exploring context (PhD Placement)
The British Library’s Persian manuscript collections number ca. 11,000 Persian manuscripts formed from the world-class collections of the British Museum and the India Office Library as well as material acquired more recently. The subject of the placement is the Delhi Persian collection, of ca. 1,500 Persian manuscripts collected from Delhi in the aftermath of the rebellion of 1857. The collection is especially strong in Sufism, poetry, history and biography. Its unique importance, however, lies in its ‘snapshot’ view of cultural and intellectual life in 18th and early 19th centuries. About half of the collection has been catalogued within the Library’s online catalogue IAMS and/or FIHRIST (National Union Catalogue of Arabic Script Mss). However for the remainder there are only unpublished descriptions completed by AJ Arberry, R Levy and CA Storey in the 1930s. These full descriptions are available as digital images but are focussed mostly on textual content without any paratextual information essential for a full understanding of cultural context. A new examination of a representative sample focussing on, for example, 60–90 vols relating to one discrete subject, would give insight into the manuscript culture of the 18th and 19th centuries in India at a time when the role of empire and patronage was changed dramatically. Funder(s): European Research Council; British Library PhD Placement Bursary.
Collection Details