An Album of Miniatures and Illuminations From The Baysonghori Manuscript of The Shahnameh of Ferdowski; Complete in 833 A.H/A.D 1430 and Preserved in the Imperial Library, Tehran by GRAY, Basil [Introduction] - 1971

[Tehran, Iran]: Ministry of the Imperial Court of Iran, Published by the Central Council of the Celebration of the 2500th Anniversary, Twenty-Fifth Shahrivar Printing House, 1971. Atlas folio. 14 x 18 in. 116 pp., printed on thick paper. Tipped-in colour frontisp., 34 tipped-in colour plates. Embossed blue publisher’s cloth, gilt lettering in English, French & German (minor shelfwear, light rubbing), w/ d.j. (minor edgewear, slight scuffing), still VG/VG copy. First edition, 1 of 3000 copies printed, of this remarkable facsimile issued as part of the lavish 2500th Anniversary celebrations by the former Shah of Iran honoring the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. This sumptuous illuminated and gilded manuscript by Ferdowsi originally commissioned by the Timurid prince Giat-al-Din Baysongor b. Sahrok, was prepared by comparing several copies of the Sah-nama, and its extraordinary artistry richly reproduces the efforts of the Herat School of Painting. A version published in Farsi,… Read More

Teheran: Offset Press and Soroush Press, 1990. First edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Elephant Folios. The first work is bound in clue cloth, gilt spine title; blindstamping on the boards; blue endpapers. With 34 large mounted full color plates form the 15th century manuscript. Introduction by Basil Gray, who was the former Curator of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum. Text in English, French and German. One of 3000 copies. There is alight stain to the botom edge of the textblock not affecting the pages. The cloth is worn at the rear corner, else this is a very good copy. The duatwrapper is worn at the edges and has an inner repair at the rear corner, else is in very good condition. Together with: Tableaus from the Shahnameh of Hakim Abolghasem Ferdowi, Soroush Press, 1990. Black polished leather spine, gilt; blue cloth boards. Illustrated endpapers. 28 large mounted full color plates of miniatures by Karim Safaee with facing calligraphy by Amir Ahmad Falsafi. Introduction in… Read More