A manuscript now entitled Tarikh-i Chingiz Khan may be found in the Saint Petersburg University Library, no. OP. 950 (B). It was catalogued by A. T. Tagirdjanov (1962: 116–18), who correctly identified the work and the disorder of its contents and established the proper sequence of the text, which unfortunately has several lacunae and ends abruptly in mid-sentence. The fragment, on folios 9–88, is bound together with two other texts, to which it has no relation, either in terms of subject matter, calligraphy or paper, in a small volume of 133 folios. The page size of the Tarikh is 230 × 160 mm and the text block is 176 × 100 mm, within a margin ruled in blue, black and gold. The manuscript is in poor condition, being not only well worn and soiled by age, but having suffered water damage that has affected the bottom line of text on each page; possibly a victim of the flood of 1924. Furthermore, it has undergone the indignity of being used as a drawing pad for a childish hand, in which various doodles can be found at different points in the text, apart from the fly-leaves, especially on the first page (fol. 9r.) and beside the paintings (see esp. fols 39r., 45r.).

Unfortunately, being defective at the end, the copy is undated, and it might be attributed, in its present state, to more than one phase of production, as will be discussed below.