English: Abu Nasr Farahi bin Abi Bakr bin Husain Sajzi Adibi (d. 1242), Nisab al-Sibiyan, a versified Arabic-Persian glossary for teaching children Arabic grammar, copied by 'Abd al-Nabi al-Shirazi. Persia, mid-19th Century

Arabic and Persian manuscript on paper, 41 leaves, 7-8 lines to the page written in naskhi script in black ink, headings are in thuluth script in red ink, inner margins ruled in blue and gold, double-page illuminated frontispiece with headpiece, floral illumination in outer margins, and text written in cloudbands on a gold ground, lengthy colophon written in nasta'liq, extensive marginal commentaries in Arabic and Persian in nasta'liq script, seal impressions, contemporary brown leather binding with central lattice pattern panel, doublures of gilt paper embossed with a floral motif 178 x 110 mm. Footnotes Provenance Private UK collection.

The original text was commissioned by Nizam al-Mulk, minister to the Seljuk ruler Bahram Shah (reg. 1170-75), for children to learn Arabic. It consists of two hundred couplets in Persian. The Arabic words are fully vocalized. For other copies see C. Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, vol. II, Oxford, photographic reprint, 1966, pp. 505-507, nos. 262 (IV) and Add. 26,136. Also see F. Richard, Catalogue des Manuscrits Persans, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Tome II, Rome 2013, SP 346 (IV), 410, 456, 941 (I).

The scribe is not recorded. The manuscript has two seal impressions of Muhammad Taqi.

Loosely inserted into the manuscript is an unrelated letter addressed to Haji Aqa Mirza Baba, a Kashani merchant, regarding trade, mentioning numerous names, including Haji Mirza 'Abbas Quli, a Tabrizi merchant working in Istanbul, regarding what each has paid or is expected to pay, etc. The letter was written in Tehran on 22nd Sha'ban 1326/19th September 1908.