Karim Khan Kirmani, three treatises on astronomy, Persia, Qajar, dated 1237 AH/1822 AD

Arabic and Persian manuscript on paper, 59 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, approximately 17 lines to the page, written in naskh and nasta’liq in back ink, important words in red, tables in red, blue and black, diagrams on f.28a, 28b and 41a, gold and polychrome illuminated headpiece on f.1b, f1a with a roundel containing a later dedication to Fath 'Ali Shah in red and gold, in original lacquer binding decorated with an astrolabe quadrant, signed Muhammad Riza’ai Isfahani, dated 1237 AH/1821-22 AD

In very good condition, the margins are overall clean, minor stains and smudges to the ink by the diagrams clear, the binding restored but the signature and the decoration original, as viewed.
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Karim ibn Ibrahim is Karim Khan Kirmani (d.1871), a prolific author who wrote on alchemy, medicine, optics as well as philosophy. He was a leader of the Shaykhi movement, writing against the Babists and Baha'is. This volume, copied during the lifetime of the author, contains three treatises on astronomy: Khulasa al-taqwim (concerning the solar and lunar calendar, the zodiac and the horoscope), Risala al-mizan (on the use and making of astrolabes) and Risala fi 'ilm al-Raml (on geometry). Another later copy of these treatises (1312 AH/1895 AD) was sold at Christie’s, London, 27 April 2017, lot 16.