TREASURE

A GUIDE TO THE CATALOGUE

This section is intended to be used as an introductory guide to help readers gain a basic understanding of the nature of physical manuscript and how the cataloguing process was conducted.

General description of manuscript: A brief overview of the manuscript and its contents.
Collection name: This is the name of the institution that holds the manuscript.
Collection location: The city of the institution housing the manuscript.
Manuscript identifier: This is sometimes called the accession number or shelfmark and is used by the holding institution to identify the manuscript.
Date: This is normally found in the colophon of a text but it is occasionally to be found at the beginning. Dates can vary from the date that the original manuscript was authored to when the specific copy was made.
Patron: The person who commissioned the production of the manuscript is normally identified in the colophon or sometimes in the information relating to the manuscript’s provenance.
Place of writing: This is normally identified in the colophon or sometimes in the information relating to the manuscript’s provenance.
Provenance: This is a general handwritten inscription that tells of the history of how the manuscript came about. It is usually an interleaved folio or is found as an inscription on the inside jacket of the manuscript.
Script: The vast majority of the manuscripts have been written in the Gurmukhi script although a sizeable portion have been scribed in Nasta‘līq and Devanāgarī scripts.  
Number of folios: This is a manual count of all the folios in the manuscript.
Format: The manuscripts are either catalogued as “lateral” (longer in width than height) or “vertical” (longer in height than width).
Size: The measured length and width of a single standard folio.
Size of written surface: The measured length and width of the standard written space on a each folio.
Binding: This determines whether the manuscript is aggregated as a book or as looseleaf folios. When it is bound as a book, it has either a leather, cloth or cardboard cover.

Paper: The paper is generally white or brown desī (Indian) paper. Different gradients also exist. For instance, the paper is sometimes puffed. Condition: This is the cataloguer’s assessment about the condition of the manuscript. Damage: A list of those pages in the manuscript that have sustained damage. Lines per page:  The number of lines per each side of a folio; this is not always consistent throughout a manuscript. Corrections: The method used to make corrections has been noted, e.g using yellow hartal in the midway section of this page (as shown in Figure-1). Method of numbering: There are two methods of pagination shown in the image above; the page was originally numbered by the scribe in the vernacular script, and it was later renumbered in English by either a private collector or by the holding institution.

Figure-1

Misnumbering:  This is where successive pages are not successively numbered. It is indicative of missing pages or scribal errors.
Juz numbering/catchwords: Cathwords are words at the bottom of a page in a manuscript indicating the first word of the following page. In manuscripts produced by multiple professional scribes, catchwords were provided to assure that the finished product would be assembled in the correct order. Catchwords that appear in the manuscripts of amateur scribes may serve a similar function, but may also be a decorative element introduced to give the manuscript a more professional look. Juz numbering is peculiar to Islamic texts and relate to the section markings that are used in the Koran.
Blank folios: This indicates scribal errors and generally sections which have not been scribed.
Missing folios: The cataloguer who is familiar with the textual content indicates missing sections in the manuscript. This is a useful measure of how well the manuscript has been preserved. 

Figure-2 Figure-3 Figure-4

Textual lacunae: Recognisable gaps that exist in the manuscript version against the standard text. Margination: The margination is used as a means to keep the text’s script clean and orderly. For example, the image above is marginated with two sets of parallel red lines that have a black line in between each. Seals, Notations and markings: Additional markings and notes that may or may not be contemporaneous to the authoring of the manuscript but that add relevant information to the manuscript, its content or its history. Hands:  This is indicative of multiple scribes and can be seen in many larger manuscripts. The writing style, the size of writing, and the change in ink are all indicative of this. Name of scribe(s): This information is usually given in the colophon. Index: This is included in many of the more comprehensive texts typically at the beginning of the manuscript (as shown in Figure-2). Orthographic features: Characteristic textual peculiarities that are specific to that manuscript. Rubrication: This is when headings, and subheadings are written in a different colour ink. For example, the rubrications on this page are in red (as shown in Figure-3). Interleaved Documents: Loose leafs that have been subsequently inserted into the manuscript. Some contain useful supplementary information. Decoration: The extra-textual designs done to decorate the page. For example, this introductory page has been decorated with patters using the same line style of the margins (as shown in Figure-4). Illustrations: The extra-textual pictures that enhance the beauty of the manuscript as seen in this manuscript (as shown in Figure-5). Figure-5 Description of manuscript texts: Most manuscripts consist of a number of individual texts bound together. Each text may or may not be related to the others in a collection. Author: Where known, the author of the text. Folios: Folio numbers of the start and end of the text. Incipit: The opening lines of the text. Explicit: The closing lines of the text. Colophon: Where applicable the information contained in the colophon. A statement providing the details of publication, sometimes found at the end of a book, but more often at the bottom of a printed book's title page.