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Lot Essay
Many of the marginal notes are initialled at the end with two 'ain or gh'ain. This is likely to be the hand of 'Abd al-Ghafur al-Lari, Jami's most eminent disciple, who died on 21 December 1506, being buried beside his master. Not only do the initials fit, but it is very unlikely that anybody of lesser standing would have had the audacity at this period of annotating a copy of Jami's work written by his son. 'Abd al-Ghafur also wrote a commentary on this work; it is probable that this was the copy that he used when preparing it. Of this work itself, Browne notes that 'it is written in the simple and direct style suitable for such a work; and indeed Jami's taste was too good and his sincerity too great to allow him to fall into the verbosity and bombast which mar so many books of the period' (Browne, E.G.: A Literary history of Persia, Cambridge 1928, p.435. See also pp.458 and 508)