circa 1650. These are leaves from a Hafez Dewan fragment of Ottoman origin, circa 1650, on paper, measuring 169 x 78 mm., consisting of nineteen lines of delicate black nasta'liq script within geometric designs in blue ink. The author, Mohammed Shams od-Din Hafez, lived from 1325-1399. Hafez was one of Persia's finest lyric poets and wrote in the sophisticated "Ghazal" manner. The Dewan takes the poetic format of six and fifteen couplets and expresses Sufi ideals in lyrics. Framed. #17709/17710. Very Good. More

circa 1760. This is a set of leaves from an anthology or collection of poems by Sa'di, Amir Khusrao, Jami and others. Circa 1760, it is written on paper, in a fine hand, black nasta'liq script with occasional phrases in blue. Written diagonally within two columns, the text throughout is encased in double gold lines with a few exquisite blue and gold floral headings. The fragment also contains illuminated title in polychrome colors of blue gold and red with a final folio of perching birds amongst flower sprays. Framed. #22611/22702. Very Good. More

India: 1425. Framed rare leaf from the remains of a Koran, on paper, India, Sultanate, originating in the state of Bihar, circa AD 1425 (330 x 250 mm).  Text is from the end of juz 15 and juz 16 – 30. There are eleven lines of large bihari script in black ink; the word Allah picked out in red or gold throughout, first ‘ayah’ of each juz selected in gold, single verse divisions marked with illuminated gold florets, sura headings written in white on illuminated panels with palmetts extending into the margins, inner and outer margins ruled in red and blue, large finely illuminated marginal devices marking sajda instructions, juz, quarter and half and three-quarter juz, text words in black. The condition is in unusually good condition.  Damp staining confined largely to one corner, hardly affecting the text. #17886. Good. More

Persia. Framed handwritten manuscript leaf from a Koran, Persia, middle of the 16th century, on paper (325 x 220 mm). This leaf comes from a large-sized Koran of fourteen lines of black Nasta’liq script. It has elegant marginal devices recto and verso. Verso: fourteen lines of black Nasta’liq script. #18003. Fine. More

1846. A leaf from large Koran, Iran, 1846-47, on fine paper. There are fifteen lines of black naskh script, gold rosettes between verses, sura heading in red on illuminated panels, large polychrome medallions in borders, borders ruled in gold, red Persian interlinear translation, colophon signed by the scribe Muhammad'Ali ibn Muhammad Baqir. Framed, measures 345 x 200 mm. #39684. Very Good. More

India: 1878. This is a leaf from a remaindered (Dala'il al-Khayrat) prayer book, scripted in India, in 1878, thirteen lines scribed in a strong Naskhi script on a fine lines paper, measuring 204 x 130 mm. It was written in Arabic with Persian translation in red ink between the lines. The holy name of Allah is in red ink. The headings are in gold as well as the borders. Gold rosettes end the verses. The original text was composed by Muhammed ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli. This is one of the most popular devotional prayer books of Islam. Framed. #17661. Fine. More

This is a leaf from a Prayer book and Benedictional for the use of Cistercian Nuns, in Latin, France second quarter of the 16th century (207 x 143 mm). There are eighteen lines in black ink of angular Gothic script from the section of Temporal Benedictions. Provenance: Cistercian House presumably a nunnery since the opening, and only illustrated, office for the profession of female novices, who promise to live secundum regulam sancti Benediciti. The Illumination within this Prayer Book shows considerable similarities with those of the Master of Francois de Rohan, active in Paris from c. 1525 - 1546. Framed. #6802. Fine. More

Spain: 1650. A leaf from a Medieval Antiphonal or Choir Missal, Spain, circa 1650, in Latin on extremely heavy vellum. Text is in a Spanish rounded gothic hand (Rotunda). Music is on a stave formed of five lines. There are six lines of music and verse. Verso: six lines of music and verse. Framed. #2525. Near Fine. More

A leaf from a medieval manuscript Bible: Paris, France, mid 13th century, in Latin, on vellum. There are fifty-five lines of double column text in microscopic-miniscule Gothic script. There are book headings, chapter numbers, Book of Tobias [Doway-Rheims] non existent in the King James, Chapters 1-2, Miniature of Tobit lying in bed with a swallow above. Verso: there are fifty-five lines of double column text in microscopic-miniscule Gothic script. Bible leaves from the 13th century are becoming rare. Framed. #2874. Fine. More

A framed Leaf Qur’an, Kashmir, 19th Century, Manuscripts on gold sprinkled paper, with fourteen lines of black Naskh script within gold rules, illuminated marginal medallions. Sura headings in white within gold panels, illuminated opening, middle and final bifolios (240 x 145 mm.). #31393. Fine. More

Framed rare Persian miniature created in the early 19th or late 18th century on paper (290 x 180 mm). It illustrates a scene from the Persian national epic, the Shahnama or Book of Kings. The Shahnama is a poem of some 50,000 couplets that was composed by Abu’l Qasim Firdausi over a period of several decades in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. Verso: twenty-one lines of four columns in nasta’liq script. #15908. Fine. More

North India. Late 18th/19th century Arabic and Persian manuscript on paper, seven lines to the page written in nadkhi script in black ink with significant words picked out in red, double interlinear gold rules, interlinear Persian translation in red ink, inner margins ruled in blue and two shades of gold. Twenty-two lines written diagonally in outer margins of each page in nada'liq script in black ink, significant words and sentences picked out in red, illuminated conerpieces, outer margins ruled in blue, orange and two shades of gold, illuminated double-pages in colours and gold. Measures 192 x 122 mm. Framed. #45661/45662. Near Fine. More