[Mecmua-yi eşar, late 18th century?].

Elegant collection of poetic excerpts in Persian and Turkish organized according to arrangment in tables at opening (see pp.6-20), compiled by the Ottoman grand vizier and littérateur, Koca Mehmet Ragıp Paşa (d.1763).Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center, Isl. Ms. 423Origin: Lacks dated colophon but decoration, paper, etc. would suggest late 18th century.Former shelfmark: "101 T. De M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" inscribed in pencil on verso of front flyleaf (p.2).Binding: Boards faced in red cut velvet with dark red leather over spine, fore edge flap and edges / turn-ins (velvet faced, leather edged framed binding) ; Type II binding (with flap) ; board linings and flyleaves in a decorative paper, silver-flecked and painted with charming bird and floral motifs in gold with subtle pink and green accents ; leather framing upper and lower covers carries tooled borders (in a series of s-shaped stamps) flanking gold-painted vegetal accents and tooled rosettes ; design continues on flap ; edges of text block gold-painted with a chain design (series of s-shapes) ; sewn in dark pink thread, two stations ; worked chevron endbands in pink and yellow, good condition ; overall in fairly good condition with minor lifting of spine leather, abrasion and minor losses of leather from upper cover, etc.Support: Mainly non-European (likely Persian) laid paper of at least three types ; opening type with roughly 10 laid lines per cm. (vertical, somewhat indistinct, curving) and grouped chain lines faintly visible (see p.22, etc.), cloudy formation, thin and crisp though sturdy, well-sized and burnished, brown in color ; another type with roughly 9 laid lines per cm. (quite curved, fairly indistinct) and chain lines rarely visible (see p.114, etc.), cloudy formation, sturdy, well-sized and burnished, dark cream in color ; final type with 8-9 laid lines per cm. and no chain lines visible, quite sturdy and well-burnished, some leaves tinted bright magenta ; occasional leaves (see p.206, etc.) and opening added leaves carrying table of contents on European laid paper with 10 laid line per cm. (vertical), chain lines spaced 25-28 mm. apart (horizontal) and a raisin watermark of grapes under fleur de lis (see p.10, 16, 18, 206, etc.) ; flyleaves in European laid paper with "GFA" under eagle watermark.Decoration: Elegant illuminated headpiece (ʻunwān / sarlawḥ) at opening on p.22, consisting of rectangular piece with empty gold cartouche flanked by vegetal motifs, surmounted by w-shaped piece overlaid with similar floral vegetal motifs in mint green, light pink, light blue, orange-red, and white on a ground of gold and light blue, itself surmounted by vertical stalks (tīgh) in light blue and red, all set in a well of pink and gold bands ; written area (and occasionally divisions within, columns otherwise divided by red rules) surrounded by frame consisting of gold band defined by black fillets ; headings and keywords rubricated.Script: Nastaʻlīq (talik) ; elegant Ottoman hand in a medium line ; serifless with slight effect of words descending to baseline, elongation and thickening of horizontal strokes, pointing mainly in strokes (rather than distinct dots) ; a few excerpts at opening and close in other hands, mainly naskh.Layout: Written in roughly 17 lines per page, mainly divided to two columns with lines of each column on the diagonal ; frame-ruled.Collation: ii, II+1 (5), I+1 (8), 7 V(78), IV (86), IV+1 (95), 2 VI(119), I+1 (122), ii ; chiefly quinions with a few quaternions and senions ; catchwords present ; leaves between sections and at close originally left blank (see pp.194-200 and p.213 to close) ; foliation in red ink, Hindu-Arabic numerals ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, supplied during digitization (includes flyleaves).Incipit: "بو مجموعۀ زيبا بر قطعۀ بهشت رعنا وبر روضۀ غناى معنا در كه ... منتخبات ازهار نامدار اثارى ايله مشكين بهار وجويبار اشعار سلامت شعارى نمونۀ جنات تجري من تحتها الانهار در حائز قصب السبق مضمار بلاغت شعر وانشا صدر اعظم واسبق مرحوم ومبرور راغب محمد باشانك دواوين عديدۀ شعراى روم بلاغت مرسوم ...Title supplied by cataloguer.Ms. codex.Kaya, Nevzat. "Rāgıb Meḥmed Paşa and his library." In Theoretical approaches to the transmission and edition of Oriental manuscripts. Proceedings of a symposium held in Istanbul, March 28-30, 2001, Eds. Judith Pfeiffer and Manfred Kropp. (Beirut: Ergon verlag Würzburg in Kommission, 2007):Babinger, Fr. "Rāg̲h̲ib Pas̲h̲a, Ḵh̲od̲j̲a Meḥmed."Elegant collection of poetic excerpts in Persian and Turkish organized according to arrangment in tables at opening (see pp.6-20), compiled by the Ottoman grand vizier and littérateur, Koca Mehmet Ragıp Paşa (d.1763).Mode of access: Internet.Acquired by purchase (funds donated by Horace Rackham).Occasional glosses