Introduction and Analysis of Lithographic Copy's Colophon in Naserid Era in Epic and Religious Literature )Available in Astan Quds Razavi Library(

Objective: A lithographic or a manuscript copy is interesting from two points of view: The bibliographic point of view, which focuses on the content and its author, and the other is the codicological point of view, which focuses on the appearance and physical quality. In the general structure of a copy, the part that includes this type of important information is called "colophon". Astan Quds Razavi library has the richest lithography repository with 54,530 copies. The statistical population includes16371 lithographic copies focusing on "epic and religious literature" between 1264 -1310 AH /1847-1892 AD.4,500 copies are in Persian, and among these, 53 copies that are older and more refined and their colophon contain more contents or have been reprinted many times, were selected to comparative analysis and review.
Research method/approach: The research method is descriptive-analytical using the documentary-library method and the materials collection has been done through library sources and written works observation. Then, the important information indicators in colophons have been studied and compared based on the research questions in multiple copies.
Findings and conclusions: The findings showed that most of the colophons in the mentioned era are compound, because they contain all the main components and provide complete information. In addition, the multi-volume editions each have a separate colophon. Therefore, in writing descriptive lists of lithographic and manuscript copies, it is necessary that all the colophon phrases are rewritten and quoted, or the original colophon is presented in the form of a photo in the digital catalogs, because usually catalogers have given up on bringing the entire colophon phrases. The colophon number of Arabic and Persian manuscripts and lithographs is countless. Therefore, it is necessary for each library to research its own colophons separately. Examining the inscription date of selected copies in ​​"epic and religious literature" revealed that the frequency of these copies' inscription was the highest number (477 copies) in the last decade of the Naserid era (1301-1310 AH/ 1883-1892 AD).