Saadi's Kolliyat, Manuscript 6154: Older Than Its Catalogue Date

The catalogue of the University of Tehran Central Library dates manuscript 6154 of Saadi's Kolliyat (collected works) to the tenth century AH (sixteenth century CE). A note the library posted on its channel on 28 October says it was probably copied in the middle of the eighth century AH (fourteenth century CE), or at the latest in its third quarter. The date is proposed on the basis of codicological and palaeographic evidence.

The scholar Saeed Nafisi had bought the manuscript for his private library. When his manuscripts were transferred, it came to the university's Central Library. Volume 16 of the university's catalogue of manuscripts, published in 1978, gives its date as "tenth century". According to the note, later catalogues and databases repeated that date, and this is why the manuscript has received little attention.

The manuscript has 505 folios and is fairly complete. According to the note, apart from two newly written folios at the beginning and three closing folios from the Qajar period, all the folios are original. The many illuminations at the beginnings and ends of its sections also show that it was prepared for an important person. The first folios are damaged, and the hope is that they can be properly restored.

The author of the note calls the proposed date a conjecture, put forward so that scholars can confirm or correct it, and so that the manuscript can be used in future editions of Saadi's works.

Source: University of Tehran Central Library.

Read more: University of Tehran Central Library, Telegram channel

Sources:
University of Tehran Central Library, note on manuscript 6154 of Saadi's Kolliyat, Telegram channel, 28 October 2026. https://t.me/UT_Central_Library/19015