A Commentary on the Preface to the Gulistān by Saʿdī’

c. 1790

Shoults MS. 08

Unpublished

This mid-18th century manuscript contains a commentary on the Preface (dībācheh) to the Gulistān (The Rose Garden), an important prose piece by Saʿdī Shīrāzī (d. c. 1292), a major Persian poet of the medieval period. Although there is some doubt about author attribution, the stamped seal of Sayyid Muḥammad (Mehmet) bin Ḥāfiẓ Osmān is present, dating the manuscript copy to 1178 AH (1764 AD). While the script of the commentary is in Ottoman Turkish, the text is replete with references to Persian poets and thinkers such as Ḥāfiẓ Shīrāzī (d. c. 1390 AD); Firdowsī (d. c. 1025 AD); Kamāl Khujandī (d. c. 1401 AD); and Nāṣir Khusraw (d. c.1088 AD). This manuscript once belonged to the Rev. William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887).