Jarring Prov. 553

Abu Bakr, Mirsadu-l-Ibad. 1930's (?), Persian, English

Mirsadu-l-Ibad mina-l-mabda'ila-l-ma'ad or Mankind's Highroad from the point of departure to the point of return of Abu Bakr 'Abdullah b. Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Shaharar ar-Razi, better known as Nadjme-d-Din-i Daya translated from the oldest Vienna Ms., collated with Mss. in the British Museum, the India Office and the Cambridge University Library by L. S. Dugin. Unfortunately the manuscript is mutilated in some parts and some of the leaves are missing. The reason for this calamity is a cat. When Jarring was transferred from Teheran to Addis Abeba in 1946 he brought the Dugin legacy with him. In a unguarded moment the legation cat in Addis Abeba found the file of this Dugin manuscript and devoted all his desctructive power to it. All the scraps of paper torn out by the cat are kept in a special envelope and it might be possible to reconstruct the stricken pages. In the envelope are further to be found different letters in Persian and English pertaining to the translation of the ms.