[Sca-cooks] Sultan's Book of Delights-- late 15th century

[Elaine Koogler]

Johnna Holloway wrote:

> Here's a new one from Routledge.
>
> Johnnae llyn Lewis
>
>
> The NI'Matnama Manuscript of the Sultans of Mandu: The Sultan's Book of
> Delights
>
>
> # 576 pages (February 2005)
> # Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon
> # ISBN: 041535059X
>
> 115 US dollars
>
> Routledge says:
>
> The Ni'matnama is a late fifteenth-century book of recipes written for
> the Sultan of Mandu, in what is now Madhya Pradesh, India. It contains
> recipes for cooking a variety of delicacies and epicurean delights, as
> well as providing remedies and aphrodisiacs for Nasir ad-Din Shah of
> Mandu and his court. The text provides a unique account of courtly life
> in a fifteenth century Indian Sultanate and documents a fascinating
> stage in the history of Indian cookery.
>
> There is only one copy of The Sultan's Book of Delights in existence,
> held in the Oriental and India Office Collections of the British Library
> (BL-Persian 149). The book manuscript is illustrated with fifty elegant
> miniature paintings, most of which show showing the Sultan observing the
> women of his court as they prepare and serve him various dishes. These
> illustrations are important historical art documents in their own right.
> Painted in a distinctive Shirazi (Southern Iranian) style, they are also
> stylistically influenced by indigenous styles of book painting found in
> Central and Western India, and are the earliest known example of
> miniature painting in an Islamic Deccani style.
>
> For the first time, a facsimile of the original text is reproduced for a
> scholarly audience. Norah Titley, formerly assistant keeper, Oriental
> Collections at the British Library, has masterfully translated this
> unique book.
>
>
> Contents:
> 1. Preface 2. Introduction 3. List and description of the manuscript's
> illustrations 4. Facsimile of the manuscript including colour inserts
> for illustrations 5. Translation of the manuscript 6. Bibliography 7.
> Glossary 8. Index
>
>
>
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>
>
Thanks, Johnnae...since Christopher found the less expensive one at 
Bigger Books, I went ahead and ordered a copy.  I'm working on doing a 
Middle Eastern feast...it's about a year away, but I'm collecting stuff 
early, and this sounded right in line with what I want to do!

Elaine