BAYĀŻ, literally “white,” usually designating a small paper notepad with covers often made of leather which opens lengthwise and was carried around in inside pockets. Terms such as moraqqaʿ, safīna, jong, jarīda, kaškūl, dastūr, gol-dasta, ganjīna, teḏkār, majmūʿa, and taʿlīqāt have occasionally been used in a similar sense. The interest of bayāż lies in the fact that several such books kept in various libraries contain notes by people of distinction. These notes sometimes contain lines of poetry, aphorisms, ethical and philosophical maxims, and amusing phrases. Some are listed in manuscript catalogues. Following are some important bayāżes: Tehran University Library possesses a bayāż dated 845/1441-42 (no. 2043), one by Moḥammad-Jaʿfar Ḥosaynī dated 1068/1657-58 and 1092/1681 (no. 2145), one containing zīārat-nāmas and monājāt written in 1253/1837-38 (no. 1396), and one containing the handwriting of about 100 different scholars (no. 2144). Leningrad Oriental Library ms. no. A 688 is a bayāż called Safīna-ye Ṣāʾeb. British Library Or. 4937 (Rieu, Persian Manuscripts, Suppl. no. 400) is a bayāż by Mīrzā ʿAbd-al-ʿAẓīm Qazvīnī Eṣfahānī, dated 1080/1669-70.
Bibliography:
Ketāb-ḵāna-ye Markazī-e Dānešgāh-e Tehrān, Majalla-ye ketāb-dārī 7, 1318/ 1900, pp. 66-111.
Farḵonda-payām, ed. Ḡ.-Ḥ. Yūsofī, Mašhad, 1359 Š./1980, pp. 148, 213.
See also al-Ḏarīʿa III, p. 166, and M. Bayānī, Ketāb-šenāsī-e ketābhā-ye ḵaṭṭī, Tehran, 1353 Š./1974, p. 14.
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(M.-T. Dānešpažūh)
Originally Published: December 15, 1988
Last Updated: December 15, 1988
This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 8, p. 886