Paper. 245 x 165mm. [7], 479p.

Written in clear Nasta'liq, in black, red and blue, within blue and gold borders. 17 lines to a page. Full table of contents prefixed.

On the final flyleaf 'Bought at the prize-sale of property taken from the "Kotwali" at Cabul. Cabul, Nov. 1879 by Granville Egerton, 2nd Lieut., 72nd Highlanders.'

Also on the final flyleaf 'Presented to the Library of St John's College Cambridge by Major General Granville Egerton CB Novr. 1919.'

Pasted inside the back cover is a letter from R. Murdoch Smith (Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art) to Captain Egerton, dated 18 Feb. 1893, which reads 'The book (which I return herewith) is the second volume of what appears to be a code of laws subdivided into books & chapters on all kinds of subjects such as buying and selling all kinds of things, contracts, division of property among the heirs of a deceased person & c. The book is the second volume of the code and as shown in the table of contents was written in A.H. 1287 (twenty years ago by order of the Amir Shir Ali of Afghanistan).'

Pasted inside the front cover is a letter from Granville Egerton (Geddington Priory, Kettering) to C.W. Previté-Orton (Librarian of St John's), dated 22 Nov. 1919, which reads 'It gives me great pleasure to learn that your library Committee will accept my small gift of a Persian manuscript - which I send by parcels-post today. The book is as I purchased it, at the Prize-Sale at Kabul in 1879, in its original native binding. I have on several occasions enjoyed the hospitality of St John's College, and it is a considerable satisfaction to me, to be permitted to make this very small return.'