Abstract This article presents a set of four multitext manuscripts made in Tabriz during the reign of the Safavid Shāh Sulaymān (r. 1666–1694). The texts are organized around one core abstruse text (lughuz) penned by the patron of the work, the vizier of Azarbayjan and mustawfī al-mamālik, Ẓahīr al-Dīn Ibrāhīm (d. 1102/1690). Analysis of these manuscripts, copied successively over a period of 12 years by the same hand, reveals the endeavours of the patron and the copyist to produce an artefact that was increasingly refined in terms of layout. The Sackler manuscript is the most recent and also the most accomplished. The amount of time and money put into this project is unusual for a non-royal patron. This editorial project might be linked to Ẓahīr al-Dīn’s political ambitions to find a position or to restore his reputation at the royal court at Isfahan.