'Abd al-Rahman Jami (d.1492), Diwan, signed by Darvish 'Ali (known as Waysi), Persia, Timurid, dated 878 AH/1473 AD

Persian manuscript on paper, 267 leaves plus a flyleaf, 15 lines to the page, written in neat nasta'liq script in black ink within 2 columns separated by double intercolumnar rules in gold, headings in larger blue or gold text, catchwords, margins ruled in black, gold and blue, f.1a with an illuminated shamsa with scrolling border enclosing a gold quatrefoil filled with text in thuluth script, following page with corresponding illuminated headpiece, Ottoman brown morocco binding with central lobed cartouches and corner-pieces filled with animals and interlacing vegetal motifs, cut-leather filigree-work doublures, with flap

In Ottoman hands, one note by a certain Haji Sayyid Ahmad who says it was purchased in Constantinople in 1153 AH/1740-41 AD. Another owner gives his name as Muhammad known as Tafsirizadah (?). The manuscript is valued twice as ‘7 [gold?] coins’.

There is also an oval seal on the opening page of a certain Ahmad, possibly the same Ahmad who purchased it.

In generally good overall condition, minor losses to opening and closing leaf edges, some water stains, illumination bright and pages generally clean, gilding worn on binding, some re-gilding to flap, spine and flap repaired, occasional light smudges, as viewed.
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Born in November 1414 in Jam, a city in Afghanistan, Abd al-Rahman Jami was the most prominent scholar and poet of Sufi literature. Jami was greatly inspired by his father, who was his mentor, and while in Herat was able to study Arabic literature as well as science. Jami also studied in Samarqand, at the heart of the scientific world, and later held an important position at the Timurid court. In 1453, Jami became a Sufi Shaykh as he created a contrast between the two types of Sufis. He died in November 1492 in Herat.