Sharh-i mu'ammayat-i Mir Husayn.

8vo (110 x 175 mm). Persian manuscript on polished cream-coloured oriental paper. 119 leaves. 16 lines of black and occasional red Nasta'liq with frequent marginal glosses; two diagrams in red and black ink. Some folios replaced. In later Qajar lacquered papier-mache binding with polychrome floral decoration. A brief commentary on the Riddles of Mir Husayn ibn Muhammad Nishapuri al-Mu'mayi and other riddles, either by the commentator himself or taken from other poets. Mir Husayn Nayshapuri (known as "Mu'amma'i") had been the author's teacher; his well-known collection of versified conundrums on the 99 names of Allah was composed in 916 H (1510/11 CE). - Lacquer covers chipped in places; interior well preserved with a fairly extensive but unobtrusive waterstain. An uncommonly early specimen, written close to the lifetime of the commentator, if not during it: corresponding copies of this text in the British Library (IO Islamic 4407) and in Princeton (Islamic Mss., NS 1006) date from the 18th century. - Provenance: from the private collection of Michel E. Abemayor (1912-1975) of New York, the last descendant of an important Cairo dynasty of dealers in Egyptian antiquities. - Cf. C. A. Storey, Persian literature, III, pp. 224f. Agha Buzurg, Dhari'ah 21 (1936), p. 364.