It would be impossible to notice here the many excellent books of reference, historical, biographical and geographical, which have been produced in Persia since the middle of the nineteenth century. Many of them, it is true, are for the most part compiled and condensed from older works, both Arabic and Persian, but some contain valuable new matter, not to be found elsewhere. Something must, however, be said as to certain peculiarities connected with this later literature and with the world of books in modern Persia.
European students of Persian are, as a rule, unless they have lived in that country, accustomed to think in terms of manuscripts, and to turn to Dr Rieu's admirable catalogues of the British Museum MSS. for information as to literary history. But since the introduction into Persia of printing and lithography, especially since about 1880, the importance of the manuscript literature has steadily diminished, the more important books written being either transferred to stone or set up in type from the original copy. This printed and lithographed literature has not hitherto received nearly so much attention as the older manuscript literature, and it is often impossible to obtain ready and trustworthy information as to the authors and contents of these modern books. The recent publication of Mr Edwards's Catalogue of the Persian printed books in the British Museum * marks a great step in advance of anything previously accomplished, but the notices are necessarily very brief, and contain, as a rule, no particulars about the authors and only the most general indication of the character of their works. What is needed is a catalogue raisonné of Persian books composed during the last century and lithographed or printed in Persia, for it is much easier, for reasons which will be stated immediately, to ascertain what has been published in Persian in Turkey, Egypt and India.
The fact is that the Persian book trade is in the most
chaotic condition. There are no publishers or booksellers
of substance, and no book-catalogues are issued. Most
books have no fixed price or place of sale; many have no
pagination; hardly any have indexes or tables of contents.
Often books comprising several volumes change their size
and shape, their plan, and even their nature, as they proceed,
while the author not unfrequently changes his title. Let us
take as an illustration a few of the numerous works of
reference published under the name of Mírzá Muḥammad
Ḥasan Khán, who successively bore the titles of Ṣaní'u'd-
By this time the author appears to have grown weary of the “Mirror of the Lands,” for after a year's rest he began the publication of a new book entitled Muntaẓam-i-Náṣirí, of which also three volumes appeared in the years 1298-1300/ 1881-3. Of these three volumes I possess only the first and the third. The first contains an outline of Islamic history from A.H. 1-656 (A.D. 622-1258), that is, of the history of the Caliphate (pp. 3-239), followed by an account of the chief events of the solar year beginning in March, 1880, both in Persia and Europe (pp. 239-57), and the usual Calendar and Court Directory (42 pp.). The third volume contains a history of the reigning Qájár dynasty from 1194/1779 to 1300/1882 (pp. 32-387), followed again by the Calendar for the last mentioned year.
Next year the author began the publication of a new
work in three volumes entitled Maṭla'u'sh-Shams (“the
Maṭla'u'shShams, A.H.
1301-3 (A.D.
1884-6).
Dawning-place of the Sun”). This opens with
a perfunctory apology for the incomplete condition
in which the “Mirror of the Lands” was
left. However, says he, since the next two letters
of the alphabet are ḥá (<text in Arabic script omitted>) and khá (<text in Arabic script omitted>), and since Khurásán
is the most important province beginning with the latter,
and since His Majesty Náṣiru'd-Dín Sháh, whose faithful
servant he is, and to whom this and his other works are
dedicated, had recently made the journey thither in order
to visit the holy shrine of the Imám 'Alí Riḍá at Mashhad,
he has decided to devote this book to an account of that
province, which, since it lies to the East, is hinted at in the
title. In the first volume (published in 1301/1884) he accordingly
describes the route to Mashhad by way of Damá-
Henceforward most of Muḥammad Ḥasan Khán's numerous works included a Sál-náma, or “Year Book” for Other works by the same author. the current year, placed at the end of each volume and having a separate pagination. His biographies of eminent Muslim women, entitled Khayrátun Ḥisánun, published in three volumes in the years 1304-7/1887-90, lacks this addition, which is, however, found in the Kitábu'l-Ma'áthir wa'l-Áthár (published in 1306/1888-9), on the Memorabilia of forty years of the reign of Náṣiru'd-Dín Sháh, an invaluable book of reference for students of the history, biography and evolution of modern Persia down to the date of publication. The plan of a geographical dictionary was taken up by another writer,
The Ganj-iDánish of “Ḥakím.” Muḥammad Taqí Khán called Ḥakím, who in 1305/1887-8 published, under the title of Ganj-