Orientalisme

Very Good Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928) In original 1/4 leather bdg. 4to. (29 x 20 cm). In Ottoman script. Text with 'derkenar'. [4], 396 p. Minor fading on papers. Hegira: 1258 = Gregorian: 1842. First Edition. Mîrkhwând also spelled Mirkhond, byname of Mu?ammad Ibn Khâvandshâh Ibn Mahmûd (Born, 1433, Balkh [now in Afghanistan] Afghanistan, died June 22, 1498, Herât), one of the most important Persian chroniclers of Iran under the Timurid dynasty, (15th century). He was a member of an old family of sayyids (those who claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad) established in Bukhara. Spending most of his life in Herât in the court of the last Timurid sultan, Husayn-Bayqara' (Husayn Bayqarah), (1469-1506), Mîrkhwând enjoyed the protection of ?usayn's renowned minister. 'Ali-Shir-Navai' (Alî Shîr Navâ'î), a celebrated patron of literature and himself a writer of great distinction. At the request of his patron, he began about 1474 his general history. Rowzat os-safâ' (Eng. trans. begun as History of the Early Kings of Persia, 1832 continued as The Rauzat-us-Safa; or, Garden of Purity, the work is composed of seven large volumes and a geographic appendix, sometimes considered the eighth volume. The history begins with the age of the pre-Islamic Persian kings and surveys the major Muslim rulers of Iran up to the events of 1523. The seventh volume may have been finished by Mîrkhwând's grandson, the historian Khwândamîr (Khondamir), and in the 19th century, Rezâ Qolî Khân Hedâyat wrote a supplement to the work. Mîrkhwând is often criticized for his highly embellished and bombastic style and for his uncritical approach to the sources, but his history preserves sections from earlier works that have since been lost. Volumes 5 and 6 are particularly reliable, for they utilize the abundant historiographic materials of the Mongol and Timurid periods and furnish independent information on the events that are contemporary or nearly contemporary with the author's lifetime. (Source: Encyclopædia Britannica). This is the first and early Ottoman Turkish Edition. Özege 20653.