Muhammad bin Abdu'l-Khaliq bin Ma'ruf, Kanz al-Lughat, an Arabic–Persian dictionary (composed circa AH 870/AD 1465–66), copied by ibn Shaykh Ruhi, Shaykh 'Abdullah Khalkhali, Persia, dated Tuesday Muharram 1095/20th [?] December 1683

Persian and Arabic manuscript on paper, 284 leaves, 27 lines to the page written in clear nasta'liq script in black ink, text arranged in alphabetical order with letters and Arabic words and sentences picked out in red ink, significant sentences underlined in red, catchwords in red and black in wide margins
320 x 215 mm.

Provenance
The estate of a distinguished Iranian academic, California, USA.

The text is divided into 28 books (kitab), and each book into 28 bab. The original text was dedicated to Sultan Muhammad of Gilan (1447–1478). The scribe is unrecorded.

Three copies, one of which is dated Muharram 1059, exactly the same date as this copy, are in the British Library, London (see C. Rieu, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, vol. II, photolithographic reprint, 1966, pp. 507–508, Add. 7440, Add.23,571, and Add.23,572). For other copies in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, see F. Richard, Catalogue des Manuscrits Persans – Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Tome II, Rome 2013, pp. 592–596, Supplement Persans 438–441.

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