Iraj Afshar’s Life and Contribution

MEHDI BAGHI (Researcher)

Iraj Afshar doyen of Iranian studies, bibliographer, codicologist, cataloguer, editor, writer, historian, and university professor. He is one of the most influential Iranian contemporary scholars to have lived. Among the wide range of academic activities that he undertook included publishing academic journals and books, contributing to an array of periodicals, preparing bibliographies, cataloguing, codicology, teaching Iranian and Qājār studies at institutions in Iran and abroad, and collaborating with numerous research institutes and libraries.

FAMILY BACKGROUND LIFE, AND CONTRIBUTIONS

He was born on 8 October 1925 in Tehran to a cultured family from Yazd. His father, his uncle, and some of his relatives were affluent merchants. His father, Maḥmūd Afshār Yazdī, was an educated and patriotic character, who began his early education in India where he studied for three years. He later studied political law for seven years in Lausanne, Switzerland, obtaining his Ph.D. He also wrote and published patriotic poetry.

Maḥmūd Afshār published the Āyandih (Future) periodical to which a number of distinguished figures contributed articles, including: Muṣaddiq, Taqīzādih, Ḥikmat, Ṣāliḥ, Narīman, Ṣadīq A‘lam, Jamālzādih, Kāẓimzādih Īrānshahr, and Ḥusayn Navvāb. Indeed, Iraj Afshar’s birthdate actually coincides with the publication of this periodical. Iraj thus had the privilege of being raised under the auspices of a kind and learned father, whose friends, colleagues, and acquaintances included distinguished scholars, men of letters, journalists, and politicians.

His family’s associations with some of the most distinguished scholars and political figures did not lead Iraj Afshar to the political arena. In contrast, impressed by his father’s love for Iranian culture and civilization, he devoted all of his life to Iran and its cultural heritage. Raised in a family of constitutionalist and freedom-seeking scholars - like his father, whose acquaintance with Muṣaddiq (Mosaddegh) traced back to late Qājār times - he appreciated his country’s need for cultural development and spent his entire life assisting in this cause.

In March 1947, at the age of twenty one, he made the acquaintance of Muṣaddiq during a business meeting and retained a deep respect for him and his ideas. As a result, he later published Muṣaddiq’s Memoires (Khāṭirāt va Ta’allumāt, Tehran 986), Muṣaddiq and Legal and Political Issues (Muṣaddiq va Masā’il-i Ḥuqūq va Siyāsat, Tehran 1979),and Muṣaddiq’s Memoires in Prison (Taqrīrāt-i Muṣaddiq dar Zindān, Tehran 1980) that the latter dictated to Colonel Jalīl Buzurgmihr. Iraj Afshar always paid homage to Muṣaddiq’s followers who adhered to the National Front (Jihfii6-yi Milli), such as Allāhyār Ṣāliḥ (Parvandih-yi Ṣāliḥ, Tehran 2004). Maḥmūd Narīmān, Ghulām-ḥusayn Ṣadīqī (his memorial volume, Haftād Maqālih, Tehran 1992), Mahdī Ādhar, ‘Alī Shāygān, and Dāryūsh Furūhar.

Afshar received his primary and secondary education at the Zoroastrian schools of Shāhpūr and Fīrūz Bahrām in Tajrīsh and Tehran. He then went on to graduate in 1979 from the School of Law, University of Tehran. Assisting his father in publishing the Āyandih journal from the age of 19. he gained his early experiences in editing academic journals. During his collegiate years he also contributed to the Leftist periodical Jahān-i Now.

Afshar’s affluent upbringing meant that he never suffered financial difficulties. However, following his graduation he found work and thus no longer required monetary assistance from his family.

He began his teaching career at high schools in Tehran in 1950. He worked as a librarian at the library of the Faculty of Law, University of Tehran in 1951 where he learned librarianship. He served as the editor- in-chief of the Mihr journal (1952-1953) and with the collaboration of his colleagues, including Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh, ‘Abbās Zaryāb-i Khu’ī, Manūchihr Sutūdih, and Muṣṭafā Muqarrabī, he also established the Farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn in 1952, a prestigious periodical devoted to Iranian studies.

Collaborating with the National Library of Iran in 1954, Afshar published the first volume of the Kitāb-hā-yi Īrān (Books of Iran) which ushered in the first national bibliographical series introducing Persian books published in Iran and abroad. The series appeared annually until 1966. During this time he also served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Sukhan (1954-1956)and the Director of the Kitāb-hā-yi Māh (1955-1961).

The then director of the Bungāh-i Tarjumih va Nashr-i Kitāb (Institute for Translation and Publication of Books) was Iḥsān Yārshāțir (Ehsan Yarshater), who due to his scholarly activities had to reside abroad. He therefore vested in Afshar the directorship of the newly established research and publication institute, a position he retained for seven years.

In 1956Afshar traveled to France, where he attended some conrses offered by UNESCO on modern librarianship and the theoretical principles of bibliography. This introduced him to modern achievements in librarianship and bibliography and helped in forming this particular branch of his academic activities. Over the next seven years he embarked on similar pursuits: teaching modern librarianship at the Teachers’ Training College (Dānishsarā-yi ‘Ālī); serving as the director and the editor-in-chief of the Rāhnamā-yi Kitāb (Book Review) journal; founding the Book Club (Bāshgāh-i Kitāb) with Yārshāṭir, better known as the Book Association (Anjuman-i Kitāb), where modern services were made available to the readership; publishing the Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (Manuscripts) journal in collaboration with Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh; directing the National Library, where he introduced interested scholars to academic cataloguing of manuscripts and printed books; and taking on the directorship of the Bibliographical Studies Center of the University of Tehran.

In 1959 the first volume of fihrist-i Maqālāt-i fārsī (Catalogue of Persian Articles) appeared, containing bibliographical data on 6,000Persian articles appearing in Iranian studies journals, published both in Iran and abroad. This reference work, the seventh volume of which appeared in 2010, has, over time, attained wide recognition in Iranian studies.

From 1964 to 1971, Afshar served as the Director in charge of publications for the University of Tehran. He followed the tradition established by its founder, Parvīz Nātil Khānlarī, endeavoring to maintain the independence of these publications from any unwarranted influences exerted by self-serving academics. In 1965, he became the Director of the Central Library of the University of Tehran under the presidency of Dr. Jahānshāh Ṣāliḥ. He then devoted almost 14 years (1965-1979)to the establishment, organization, and development of the first and the richest academic central library in Iran, which served as a model for similar libraries in other Iranian universities. The Kitābdārī (Librarianship) journal was founded by him in 1966when the first Master’s program in that discipline was offered at the University of Tehran. As part of the course, foreign experts were invited to teach and contribute to the organisation of the Central Library. Notwithstanding disagreements with some educators of modern bibliography, who neglected the cultural elements of their society, Afshar’s impact on modern scholarship, particularly on Iranian studies, is reflected in the continuity and breadth of his bibliographical activities.

Upon the invitation of the Faculty of Letters, University of Tehran, he taught historical documents and local histories of Iran for a period of ten years until his retirement as a full professor in june 1979. The courses he taught on manuscripts were attended by many Iranian librarians, bibliographers, and codicologists, who were introduced to a hitherto neglected aspect of Persian heritage.

The period from 1969 to 1979 also saw him embark on a number of other significant academic activities. He organised nine conferences on Iranian studies in different Iranian cities, attended by academics from Iran and abroad. He also directed the Irānshināsī (Iranian Studies) journal published by the University of Tehran’s Faculty of Letters. Furthermore, he conducted research in a number of different fields, including cataloguing manuscripts, preparing bibliographies, editing, and publishing historical documents and texts.

His retirement in June 1979 ushered in a new chapter in his academic activities that continued until his final days. He resumed the publication of the Āyandih journal (new series 1797-1993) founded by his father, which was more or less a continuation or the Rāhnamā-yi Kitāb (see above). He also assumed the directorship of the Dr. Maḥmūd Afshār Foundation (Bunyād-i Mawqūfāt-i Duktur Maḥmūd-i Afshār), in whose publications series he published academic articles and books devoted to Iranian studies.

His wide-ranging academic contributions included writing books and articles, attending conferences on Iranian studies, and authoring bibliographies and works on codicology. He supervised the compilation and publication of the Catalogue of Persian Articles (Fihrist-i Maqālāt-I Fārsī). He also supervised the publication of his numerous works, over 300 books and 2,000 articles on Iranian studies, codicology, bibliography, cataloguing, and Qājār studies. He conducted research on mainly contemporary, Iranian academic figures and foreign Iranologists. He produced book reviews and critiques and undertook research on Persian classical texts, historical documents, historical geography, archaeology, travelogues, and literary and mystical subjects, emphasising the literary significance of Persian sources and making available to researchers his bibliographical sources and catalogues. His expertise and erudition in the events and notable figures of Iran from the Constitntional Movement onwards have further enriched his contributions, an instance of which includes his collections of data about Sayyid Ḥasan Taqīzādih, an outstanding constitutionalist.

His contributions to the field of codicology include cataloguing some of the manuscripts found in a number of collections.

He also published the facsimile edition of some manuscripts including: al-Waqfiyyat al-Rashīdiyya (1971), Bayāḍ (1974), al-Mukhtārāt min al-Rasā’il (1976), Lawā’iḥ wa Lawāmi‘ (1981), Tadhkira-yi Anjuman-i Nāṣirī (1984), Mirāt al-Safar (1985), Mujmal al-Tawārīkh wa ‘l-Qaṣaṣ (2000), and Būstān-i Sa‘dī (2001). Majmū‘ih-yi Kamīnih (1975) includes certain of his articles devoted to bibliography and codicology. Bayāḍ-i Safar (1975) contains selections from his notes on codicology, which he wrote during his travels. He published or collaborated in the publication of es catalogues of manuscripts (Afshār et al, pp. 42-45) and included many manuscripts in his articles (at least 105 articles, ibid, pp. 41-42, 45-69) Besides cataloguing many academic and private collections in Iran, he also catalogued a large number of manuscripts at numerous collections abroad, including those of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London (1967), the University of Edinburgh (1967),the University of Stockholm (1967), the University of Utrecht (1967), the Royal Library, Copenhagen (1967), the British Museum (1965), the University of Michigan (1967), Le Bibliothèque Nationale de France (1965, 1967), Harvard University (1967), the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul (1975), collections in Athens and Tunisia (1967), and the Institute of Oriental Studies, Leningrad (1965).

Afshar was also consulted by numerous Iranian and non-Iranian institutes and researchers working in the fields of Iranian studies, bibliography, and codicology, serving as a nexus between different academics.

One of the few scholars who traversed Iran as well as major parts of the Persian speaking world beyond, Afshar took photographs, made notes, and recorded data from locals and scholars. Some of this has appeared in different periodicals, and serves as a testimony of his vast erudition and academic precision. This academic precision increased with time and with the growth of his knowledge and experience.

He was a member of the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia (Markaz-i Dā’irat al-Ma‘ārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī) and in addition to participating in the research activities of the Center, particularly those relating to Iranian studies; he also supervised its library collection. As a gift to the Center, he presented his own personal, rich library collection, which included 30,000 manuscripts and printed materials, some of which had been bequeathed to him by distinguished figures such as Sayyid Ḥasan Taqizādih and Allāhyār Ṣāliḥ. The photographs taken by him, including those of notable characters, historical monuments, and scenery, exceed 10,000 in number. The collection of his correspondences with notable Iranian and international figures exceeds 10,000 and is of historical and literary significance. He also contributed numerous articles on local histories to the Dānishnāmih-yi Jahān-i Islām (Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam).

He contributed countless articles, book chapters, and reviews to a wide variety of periodicals, books, festschrifts, and memorial volumes over a 65 year period.

Afshar died of leukemia on 9 March 2011 in Tehran. He was laid to rest in his family chamber (no. 300) in the Bihisht-i Zahrā’ Cemetery.

CHRONOLOGY OF AFSHAR’S SELECTED ACADEMIC CONTRI BUTIONS TO BIBLIOGRAPHY, CODICOLOGY, CATALOGUING, AND CRITICAL EDITIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS

1945: Prepared the yearly index of articles for the Āyandih Journal.

1951-1960: Librarian at the Library of the School of Law, University of Tehran (invited and supervised by Muḥsin Ṣabā and Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh.

1951: Member of the Society or Iranian Studies (presided over by Ibrāhīm Pūrdāvūd, executive director: Muḥammad Mu‘īn); book review on Muḥammad Ṣadr Ḥāshimī’s Tārīkh-i Jarā’id va MaJallāt-i Īrān (History of Newspapers and Journals in Iran, 4 vols.); published Kitāb- hā-yi Nathr-i fārsī-yi Mu‘āṣir (Contemporary Persian Books in Prose).

1952: Edited and published Ḥālāt va Sukhanān-i Abū Sa‘īd Abū al-khayr (The Mystical States and Words of Abū Sa‘īd Abū al-Khayr), Samariyya dar Mazārāt-i Samarqand va Sā’ir-i Ma‘lūmāt-i Rāji‘ bih Ān Shahr (The Book of Samar on the Tombs of Samarkand and Further Details Pertaining to That City), and Samariyya: Mazārāt-i Samarqand (2nd ed.); founded the farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn (Culture of the Land of Iran, in collaboration with Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh, Manūchihr Sutūdih, Muṣṭafā Muqarrabī, and ‘Abbās Zaryāb Khu’ī); Director-in-Chief of the Mihr (Love) journal, nos. 8-9(licence-holder: Majīd Muvaqqar)

1952-1979: Director of the National Team of the Bibliography of Iran.

1953-2005: Director of the Farhang-i īrān-Zamīn (Culture of Iran).

1953: Edited and published Māddat al- Ḥayāh (Substance of Life on cuisine).

1953-1975: Edited and published Muḥammad Qazwīnī’s Yāddāsht-hā (Notes).

1954-1956: Editor-in-Chief of the Sukhan journal, vols. 5-7 (licence-holder: Parvīz Nātil Khānlarī).

1954-1966 : Compiled         Kitābshināsī-yi Īrān/ Kitāb-hā-yi Īrān (Bibliography of Iran/Books of Iran).

1954: Edited and published firdaws al-Murshidiyya fī Asrār al-Ṣamadiyya (Paradise or the Spiritual Guides on the Secrets or the Needless [God]); wrote Nakhustīn Safar-nāmchih bih Kirmān va Sīstān (The First Book of Travels to Kerman and Sistan).

1955-1968: Kitābshināsī-yi Īrān/Kitāb-hā-yi Īrān.

1955: Wrote reviews on Farhang-i Lāristānī (‘Glossary of the Larestani Dialect’); Founding Member of the Iranian Society of Philosophy and Humanities, affiliated with UNESCO.

1955-1960: Director of the Kitāb-hā-yi Māh (Books of the Month) journal of the Association of the editors.

1955-1977: Contributed articles to Dā’irat al-Ma‘ārif-i Fārsī (The Persian Encyclopedia).

1955-1979: Member of the Iranian Society of Philosophy and Humanities, affiliated with UNESCO.

1955-2005: Director and supervisor of the Farhang-i Īrān -Zamīn.

1956: Wrote reviews on Farhang-i Kirmānī (Glossary of the Dialect of Kerman) wrote an introduction to the Dīwān (Collection of Poetry) of Waḥshī-yi Bāfqī, edited and published Āghāz va Anjām (The Beginning and the End, a theological discussion by Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī on resurrection), Ālamārā-yi ‘Abbāsī (Embellisher of the World dedicated to Shāh ‘Abbās), ‘Arḍ-i Sipāh-i Uzūn Ḥasan (March of Army before Uzūn Ḥasan); 2nd edition of Firdaws al-Murshidiyya fī Asrār al-Ṣamadiyya with the supplement Anwār al-Murshidiyya wa Asrār al-Ṣamadiyya, Tārīkh-i Kāshān: Mir’āt al-Qāsān (History of Kashan: Mirror of Kashan).

1956-1963: Alternate Director-General and Supervisor of Publications at Bungāh-i Tarjumih va Nashr-i Kitāb (Institute for Publication and Translation) in the absence of Ihsan Yarshater.

1956-1979: Published news concerning the period of his office in the Nashriyyih-yi Akhbār-i Dānishgāb-i Tihrān.

1956-1957: Attended the librarianship training course held by UNESCO in Europe.

1957-1958: Co-Founder of the Kulūp-i Kitāb (Book Club), later known as Anjuman-i Kitāb (Book Society).

1957: Published the 2nd edition of the first volume of Kitābshināsī-yi Īrān; contributed articles to the Yaghmā and the Farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn.

1958: Member of the Council of the Library of the Foreign Ministry; published Tārīkh-i Kāshān: Mir’āt al-Qāsān (‘History of Kashan: Mirror of Kashan’), Bayān al-Ṣinā’āt (‘Exposition of the Arts’), Kitābshināsī-yi Fihrist-hā-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Fārsī dar Dunyā (‘Bibliography of the Catalogues of Persian Manuscripts in the World’); Yāddāsht-hā-yi Qazwīnī (vol. 1, 2nd ed.).

1958-1969: Taught library studies and codicology at the Teachers’ Training College.

1958-1961: Supervised the publications of the National Team of the Bibliography of Iran.

1958-1979: Director of the Rāhnamā-yi Kitāb (‘Book Guide’, licence-holder: Ihsan Yarshater), wherein he published photographs with historical significance; President of the Book Society and the Supervisor of its publications; Supervisor of the Persian and Iranian Bibliography series.

1959: Member of the Kumītih-yi Tashkīl-i Bāygānī-yi Kull-i Kishvar (Committee for the Organization of Nationwide Archives) held by UNESCO; contributed articles to the Lughat-nāmih-yi Dihkhudā (The Dihkhudā Dictionary); edited and published Tarīkh-i Yazd (History of Yazd) and Yāddāsht-hā-yi Qazwīnī (vol. 4).

1959-1960: Member of the Kumītih-yi Taqwīm-i Asnād-i Millī (Committee for Appraisal of National Documents); contributed articles to the Rāhnamā-yi Kitāb, the Nashriyyi-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī, the Nashriyyih-yi Dānishkadih-yi Adabiyyāt-i Dānishgāh-i. Tihrān, the Yaghmā, and the Farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn; published Tārīkh-i Kabīr (The Great History), Risālih-yi Mawqūfāt-i Yazd (Treatise on the Charitable Organizations of Yazd), Mīrzā Taqī Khān Amīr Kabīr; co-founded the Nashriyyih-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (Journal of the Manuscripts) in collaboration with Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh.

1960-1979: Director of the Nashiriyyih-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī, affiliated with the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran (8 vols.).

1961:Transferred from the Faculty of Law, University of Tehran, to the Teachers’ Training College; published the first volume or the Fihrist-i Maqālāt-i Fārsī (Catalogue of Persian Articles); edited and published Masālik wa Mamālik (Paths and Territories), Jāmi‘-i Mufīdī (vol. 1 of Mufīd’s Compendium, on the geography and history of Yazd by Muḥammad Mufīd ibn Ḥabīb Allah Bāfqī Yazdī, written in the late eleventh/seventeenth century), Risālih-yi Uṣūl-i Khuṭūṭ-i Sitta (Treatise on the Principles of the Six [Calligraphic] Hands), Yāddāsht-hā-yi Qazwīnī (vol. 5); published a treatise entitled Bih Yād-i Farzand-i Faḍīlat-Shi‘ār-i Rashīd-i Īrān Sayyid Maḥmūd Narīmān (Memorial Volume for the Virtuous and Rightly-Guided Son of Iran Sayyid Maḥmūd Narīmān); contributed articles to the Nashriyyih-yi Rāb-namā-yi Kitāb, the Yaghmā, the Nashriyyih-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī, the Nashriyyih-yi Dānishkadih-yi Adabiyyāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān, and the Farhang-i īrān-Zamīn.

1961-1962: Director of the Library of the Teachers’ Training College

1962: Chief-Director of the Kitābkhānih-yi Millī (National Library; seven months) where his activities included: founding the Department of Iranian Studies, reference rooms, and the Bibliography of Iran, as well as cataloguing the Library’s manuscripts in collaboration with ‘Abd Allah Anvār; taught at the Teachers’ Training College; member of the Council of the Institute of Studies on the Literature and Languages of Iran, affiliated with the Education Ministry; wrote introductions to Farhang-i Lughāt-i ‘Āmīyānih (Dictionary of Colloquialisms), Muqaddamih bar Tārīkh-i Mughul: Tārīkh-i Mufaṣṣal-i Īrān az Istīlā-yi Mughul tā I’lān-i Mashrūṭiyyat (Introduction to the History of the Mongols: Detailed History of Iran from the Mongol Conquest to the Declaration of the Constitution); edited and published Jāmi‘ al-Khayrāt: Waqfnāmih-yi Sayyid Rukr al-Dīn Ḥusaynī Yazdī (Compendium of the Blessings:The Endowment Deed of Sayyid Rukn al-Dīn Ḥusaynī Yazdī), Pandnāma (Book of Wise Counsels), Yādigār-i Zindigī (Memoires), 2nd edition of Ḥālāt va Sukhanān-i Abū Sa‘īd Abū al-Khayr (The Mystical States and Words of Abū Sa‘īd Abū al-Khayr), Yāddāsht-hā-yi Qazwīnī (vol. 6), Sargudhasht-i Sayf al-Dīn Bākharzī (Biography of Sayf al-Dīn Bākharzī).

1962-1979: Member of the Council of the Central Library, University of Tehran.

1963: Wrote the accounts of his travels under the tile Qum bih Bam (From Qum to Bam); taught at the University of Tehran, catalogued the Persian printed books at Harvard (seven months); published Fibristnāmih-yi Kitābshināsī-hā-yi Īrān (Catalogue of Bibliographies of Iran), Majmū‘ih-yi Asnād va Madārik-i Chāpnashudih dar bārib-yi Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn [Asadābādī] (Collection of Unpublished Documents on Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn); wrote an introduction to Safarnāmih-yi Ḥājjī Pīrzādih (Travelogue of Ḥājjī Pīrzādih); contributed articles to the Nashriyyih-yi Dānishkadih-yi Adabiyyāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān, Majmū‘ih-yi Maqālāt-i Taḥqīqī-yi Khāvarshināsī Ihdā’ bith Āqā-yi Prufsur Henri Massé (Henri Massé Festschrift), Īrānshahr (Land of Iran).

1963-1964: Director of the Center for Bibliographical Studies (Markaz-i Taḥqāqāt-i Kitābshināsī).

1963-1971: Director of the Irānshināsī (Iranian Studies) journal, published by the Nashriyyih-yi Dānishkadih-yi Adabiyyāt va ‘Ulūm-i Insānī, the University of Tehran.

1964: Edited and published Iskandarnāma (The Book of Alexander), Tārīkh-i Mukhtaṣar-i Iṣfahān (Brief History of Isfahan), Samariyya: dar Bayān-i Awṣāf-i Ṭabī‘ī va Mazārāt-i Samarqand (Samariyya: on the Natural Depiction of the Tombs of Samarkand, 3rd ed.), Kitābkhānih-hā-yi Īrān (Libraries of Iran); wrote an introduction to Nimūnih-yi Naẓm va Nathr-i Fārsī az Āthār-i Asātīd-i Mutaqaddim (Chrestomathy of Persian Poetry and Prose Selected from the Works of Earlier Masters); Coordinator of a program on Library Studies offered by the Council for the Preparation of Textbooks for the Newly Literate affiliated with UNESCO; launched the project of pre-publication cataloguing for the Publications of the University of Tehran; wrote a travelogue entitled Shab-hā-yi Zindān-i Sikandar (Nights in Alexander’s Prison^[1]).

1967-1971: Director of Publications and Cultural Relations (later Bureau of Publications and Inter-Library Relations), University of Tehran.

1964-1979: Member of the Books Selection Board affiliated with the Higher Education Ministry, Education Ministry, and Ministry of Culture and Arts.

1964-1980: Director of Publications at the Central Library and the Centre for Archives, University of Tehran; Supervisor of catalogues and bibliographies for the publications of the Central Library and the Centre for Archives, University of Tehran.

1965: Contributed articles to Tajlīl-i Jāmī (JāmīCommemorative Volume), Haftād Sāligī-yi Farrukh (Commemorative Volume Published on the Occasion of [Maḥmūd] Farrukh’s Seventieth Birth Anniversary), 1st volume of Savād u Bayāḍ (Rough Notes and Fair Copy; a collection of Afshar’s articles, vol. 2 appeared in 1970); member of the Executive Board of the Center for Studying and Introducing the Civilization and Culture of Iran, affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Art; Founding Member of the Iranian Society of the History of Sciences and Medicine (Anjuman-i Īrānī-yi Tārīkh-i ‘Ulūm va Ṭibb); wrote a survey of the documents on Farrukh Khān’s Makhzan al-Waqā’i‘: Sharḥ-i Ma’mūriyyat va Musāfirat-i Farrukh Khān Amīn al-dawla (Treasure of the Events: An Account of the Mission and Travel of Farrukh Khān); reviewed Johhan Schlimmer’s Terminologie médicopharmaceutique et anthropologique Française-persane,- edited and published Dakhīra-yi Khwārazmshāhī (The Khwārazamshāhid Treasure), Tadhkira-yi Jalālī (Biographical Accounts by Jalālī[devoted to the history of Yazd]), 2nd edition of Tārīkh-i Yazd (History of Yazd), Safarnāmih-yi Sīstān va Khurāsān (Travels in Sistan and Khurasan), Qawā‘id-i ḍarb wa Qismat wa ṭarīq-i Taqsīm-i Āb-i Harāt (The Rules and Methods of Distribution of Water in Herat), kārnāmih-yi Awqāf (A Historical Survey of Endowments and Charitable Organizations [in Iran]), Siyr-i Kitāb dar Īrān (A Historical Survey of Book Production in Iran), Kitābkhānih-hā-yi Īrān va Muqaddamih’ī dar bārih-yi Kitābkhānib-hā-yi Qadīm (Libraries in Iran and an Introduction to Old Libraries); supervised the publication of Uṣūl-i Sādih-yi Kitābdāri (Simplified Principles of Librarianship);published Tārīkh-i Kāshān: Mir’ārt al-Qāsān (History of Kashan: Mirror of Kashan) with Ilāhyaār Ṣāliḥ’s annotations.

1965-1973: Taught courses on the socio-historical institutions in Iran at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran

1965-1979: Director of the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran (until February 1979); member of the Manuscripts Appraisal Boards of the Libraries of the National Consultative Assembly and the Senate; member of the Board of Trustees of Bunyād-i Farhang-i Iran (Iran Cultural Foundation).

1965-2010: Member of the Manuscripts Appraisals Board at the University of Tehran.

1966: Wrote an introduction to Fihrist-i Kitābkhānib-yi Majlis-i Shūrā-yi Millī (Catalogue of the Library of the National Consultative Assembly), a note on the author of Ḥaqā’iq al-Akhbār-i Nāṣirī (True Historical Accounts of the Reign of the Qājār Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh), and the accounts of his travels entitled Bīst Shahr u Hazār Farsang (Twenty Cities and One Thousand Leagues); founded the Kitābdārī (Librarianship) journal, affiliated with the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran; published Awrād al-Aḥbāb wa Fuṣūs al-Ādāb (Prayers of the Friends and the Gems of the Decorum), Tārīkh-i Jadīd-i Yazd (New History of Yazd), ‘Arā’is al-Jawāhir wa Nafā’is al-Aṭāyib (Brides of the Jewelry and the Best of the Precious Things), Ramz al-Rayāḥīn (Secret of the Aromatic Plants), Catalogue of the Persian Printed Books at the Widener Library (Harvard), Rūznāmih-yi Khāṭirāt-i l‘timād al-Salṭana (Memoires of I‘timād al-Salṭana), Yāddāsht-hā-yi Qazwīnī (Qazwīnī’s Notes).

1966-1969: Supervised the published Fihrist-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Kitābkhānih-yi Majlis-i Shūrā-yi Millī (Catalogue of the Manuscripts Available at the Library of the National Consultative Assembly).

1966-1979: Director of the Kitābdārī journal published by the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran (7 vols.); supervised the Khāṭirāt va Safarnāmih-hā-yi Īrān (Memoires and travelogues of Iran) published by Amīr Kabīr Publications.

1967: Wrote and published his travelogue entitled Gashtī dar Khāk-i Yazd (A Tour in the Land of Yazd); wrote a review on Kitābshināsī-yi Āmūzish va Parvarish (Bibliography of Education); edited and published Khābguzārī (Interpretation of Dreams), Farrukhnāma (The Auspicious Book [an encyclopedia or sciences, arts, and beliefs by Jamālī Yazdī]), Anīs al-‘Āshiqīn (Companion of the Lovers), Sawāniḥ fī ‘l-‘Ishq (Auspices in Love), Sharā’iṭ-i Mūrīdī (Etiquette or Discipleship), Faṣl dar ‘Irfān (Treatise on Mysticism), 3rd edition of the first volume of Yāddāsht-hā-yi Qazwīnī; published Kitābshināsī-yi Doh Sālih (A Decade’s Bibliography).

1968: Wrote reviews on the three travelogues of Herat, Marv, and Mashhad; contributed Chand Kalamih (Few Words) to the Kitābdārī, published by the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran; wrote reviews on Kitābshināsī-yi Nivishtih-hā-yi Fārsi barā-yi Kūdakān va Nawjavānān (Bibliography of the Persian Writings for Children and Young Adults); wrote Tawḍīḥ (Notes) on Majmū’ih-yi Asnād va Madārik Farrukh Khān Amīn al-Dawla (Collection of the Documents on Farrukh Khān Amīn al-Dawla); published Kitāb-hā-yi Guzīdih (Selected Books), Chār Takht (The Four Thrones), Safarnāmih-yi Kulunil Luwät (Travelogue of Colonel Loitte), Sn/nrnumifi-yi Niẓām al-Mulk az Tihrān bih Shīrāz (Travelogue of Nizām al-Mulk from Tehran to Shiraz), Kamāndārī (Archery), Gulzār-i Sa‘ādat (Garden of Happiness), and volume of Yaddāsht-hā-yi Qazwīnī, Kitābshināsī-yi Firdawsī (Bibliography of Firdawsī), Yādnāmih-yi Mīnurskī (Minorsky Memorial Volume), 2nd edition of Masālik wa Mamālik.

1968-1975: Published Yādigār-hā-yi Yazd (Monuments of Yazd).

1969: Edited and published the following: Dīwān-i Kuhnih-yi Ḥāfiẓ (An Early Manuscript of the Dīwān ofḤāfiẓ), an early Persian translation of the Holy Qur’an in the Yaghmā journal, another edition of the same early Persian translation of the Holy Qnr’an in the Rāhnamā-yi Kitāb journal, the Maqāmāt (Spiritual Stations) of Sadīd al-Dīn A‘war, Hidāyat al-Taṣdīq ilā Ḥikāyat al-Ḥarīq (True Guidance towards the Account of the Conflagration), Fihrist-i Maqālāt-i Ḥuqūī (Catalogue of Articles on Law), Istarābādnāma (The Book of Istarābād), Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah, 2nd edition of the first two volumes of the Catalogue of Persian Articles on Iranian Studies; contributed articles to Yādnāmih-yi Īrāna-yi Mīnurskī (Minorsky's Memorial Volume published in Iran); wrote some calligraphers’ biographical accounts published in Nasta‘līq-nivīsān (Nasta‘liq Calligraphers); wrote introductions to and reviews of Istarābādnāma, Fihrist-i Mīkrufīlm-hā-yi Kitabkhānih-yi Markazī-yi Dānishgāb-i Tehran (Catalogue of the Microfilms Available at the Central Library of the University of Tehran), Fihrist-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Fārsī (Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts); Director of the National Center for Books, affiliated with UNESCO, supervised the publication of the collected works of Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah Hamadānī; wrote a travelogue entitled Haft Band-i Safar-i Mashhad (The Seven Stages of Travel to Mashhad); appointed associate professor at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, University of Tehran.

1969-1971: Member of the editorial board of the Journal of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, University of Tehran.

1969-1979: Executive Director of the Conference on Iranian Studies: Associate Professor and later Full Professor of History, teaching historical documents and local histories at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, University of Tehran; taught codicology courses on Librarianship Programs, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Tehran.

1970: Wrote annotations on Bayān-i Wāqi‘ (The True Account), a biographical account of Nadir Shah, catalogue of German books on Iran, introduction to the ten year hand-list of the articles published in the Rāhnamā-yi Kitāb (1958-1967), contributing articles and chapters to Maqālāt-i Taqīzādih (Taqīzādih’s Articles), Firdawsī va Shāhnāmih-yi Ū (Firdawsī and His Shāhnāmih), Yādnāmih-yi Firdawsī (Homage to Firdawsī), Yādnāmih-yi Taqīzādih (Taqīzādih Memorial Volume): edited and published Iṣṭilāḥāt-i Ṣūfiyya (A Sufi Terminology), Awqāf-i Rashīdī dar Yazd (The Charitable Organizations Founded by Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah in Yazd), an early Turkish translation of Tuḥfat al-‘Ushshāq (The Lovers’ Souvenir), Jildsāzī (A Monograph on Book Binding), Qiṣṣib’ī az Iskandar (A Tale of Alexander), Sargudhasht-i Muḥammad Ḥasan-i Malik al-Ḥukamā (The Life Account of Muḥammad Ḥasan-i Malik al-Ḥukamā), Rāhnamā-yi Taḥqiqāt-i Īrānī (A Guide to Iranian Studies), 3rd edition of Ḥālāt wa Sukhanān-i Abū Sa‘īd Abū al-khayr (The Spiritual States and Words of Abū Sa‘īd Abū al- Khayr), Savād u Bayāḍ (Rough Notes and Fair Copy, 2nd vol.).

1970-1979: Published Maqālāt-i Taqīzādih (Taqīzādih’s Articles).

1971: Wrote contributing articles to Majmū‘ih-yi Nāmih-hā-yi Mīnuvī (Collection of Mīnuvī‘s Letters), Majmū‘ih-yi Khiṭābih-hā-yi Taḥqīqī dar bārih-yi Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah (Collection of the Academic Lectures on Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah); wrote a travelogue entitled Yārān dar Shīrāz (Friends in Shiraz); annotated Miṣbāḥ al-Arwāḥ (Light of the Spirits) of Muḥammad Bardsīrī Kirmānī; wrote an introduction to Fihrist-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Kitābkhānih-yi Vazīrī-yi Yard (Catalogue of the Manuscripts at the Library of Vazīrī, Yazd); wrote reviews on the Exhibition of the Manuscripts and Documents Available at the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran, Collection of the Documents of Farrukh Khān Amīn al-Dawla, Proceedings of the First Conference on Iranian Studies; taught at Sapporo University, Japan; edited and published Nawādir al-Tabādur li-Tuḥfat al-Bahādur (Astounding Rarities for Presenting to Bahādur; in collaboration with Muḥammad Taqī Dānish- pazhūh); Anīs al-Nās (People’s Companion), an early Persian translation of the Holy Qur’an in the Kamīnih (The Humble) Collection (3rd edition), Dāfi‘ al-Ghurūr: Safarnāmih-yi ‘Abd al-‘Alī Adīb al-Mulk Muqaddam (The Repellent of Arrogance: The Travelogue of ‘Abd al-‘Alī Adīb al-Mulk Muqaddam); Waqfnāma-yi Rab‘-i Rashīdī: al-waqfiyyat al-Rashīdiyya (The Endowment Deed of the City Complex Endowed by Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah Hamadānī, facsimile edition of an old ms. with Mujtabā Mīnuvī, Society for National Monuments, Tehran), Majmū‘ih-yi Khiṭābih-hā-yi Taḥqīqī dar bārih-yi Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah Hamadānī (Proceedings of the Conference on Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah Hamadānī), Nāmih-yi Mīnuvī (Mīnuvī Festschrift), ‘Ālamārā-yi ‘Abbāsī (A History of the Reign of the Ṣafavid Shāh ‘Abbās I entitled The Adornment of the World Presented to Shah ‘Abbās; 2nd edition), Jāmi‘ al-Khayrāt: Waqfnāma-yi Rukn al-Dīn Ḥusayn Yazdī (Compendium of the Blessings: The Endowment Deed of Rukn al-Dīn Ḥusayn Yazdī; 2nd edition), Maqāmāt (Spiritual Stations) of Sadīd al-Dīn A‘war (2nd edition), Rūznāmih-yi Khāṭirāt-i l‘timād al- Salṭana (Memoires of l‘timād al- Salṭana; 2nd edition ), Dīwān-i Kuhnih-yi Ḥāfiẓ (An Early Manuscript of the Dīwān of Ḥāfiẓ; 2nd ed.).

1971-2010: Undertook, the appraisal of Manuscripts at the Central Library of the University of Tehran.

1972:Edited and publishedĀthār-i Darwīsh Muḥammad Ṭabasī, Dīwān-i ‘Ubayd-i Zākānī-, Khāṭirāt va Asnād-i Ẓahīr al-Dawla (Memoirs and Documents of Ẓahīr al-Dawla),contributing articles to theYaghmā, theRāhnamā-yi Kitāb, theHunar u Mardum, the Nashriyyih-yi Dānishkadih-yi Adabiyyāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tehran, the Taḥqāqāt-i Rūznāmih-nigārī, the Hūkht, the Īrān-Zamīn; wrote annotations onFihrist-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Chahār Kitābkhānih-yi Mashhad (Catalogue of the Manuscripts Available with Four Libraries in Mashhad, Īn Majmū‘ih Chīst? (What is this collection?), reviews onMajmū‘ih-yi Manābi‘ va Asnād-i Tārīkhī-yi Dawrih-yi Qājār (Collection of the Historical Sources and Documents from the Qājār Period).

1972-1976: Member of the Council of the Public Libraries of Tehran; member of Iran’s Librarians’ Association.

1972-1979: Member of the Book Award of the Year.

1972-1998: Supervised the edition and publication of Majmū‘ih-yi Manābi‘ va Asnād-i Tārīkhī-yi Dawrih-yi Qājār (Collection of the Historical Sources and Documents from the Qājār Period), published by Jībī Publications, affiliated with Franklin Publications, later ‘Ilmī va Farhangī Publications.

1973: Wrote an introduction to and annotations on Asnād-i Marbūṭ bih Ravābiṭ-i Tārīkhī-yi Īrān va Jumhūrī-yi Vinīz (The Documents on the Historical Relations between Iran and the Republic of Venice), an introduction to the Kitābshināsī-yi Mawḍū‘ī-yi Īrān (Bibliography of Iran by Subject; 1964-1969), annotations on Masīr-i Ṭālibī: Safarnāmih-yi Mīrzā Abū Ṭālib Khān (Ṭālibī’s Course of Travels: The Travelogue of Mīrzā Abū Ṭālib Khān); edited and published Saydana (Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī’s Pharmaceutical Oeuvre), Tashkhīṣ va Tarqīm-i Alqāb dar Ṣāl-i 1279 (Distinction and Recording of Titles in the Year 1862), Tartīb-i Alqāb (Hierarchy of Titles), Safarnāmih-yi Tilgirāfchī (Travelogue of the Telegraph Clerk), Rūznāmih-yi Akhbār-i Mashrūṭiyyat va Inqilāb-i Īrān (Accounts of the Events of the Constitutional Period and Iran’s [Constitutional] Revolution).

1974-2001: Published Fihrist-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Kitāb- khānih-yi Millī-yi Malik (Catalogue of the Manuscripts Available at the Malik National Library).

1974: Wrote an introduction to Fihrist-i Mīkrufīlm-hā-yi Kitābkhānih-yi Markazī va Markaz-i Asnād-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān (Catalogue of the Microfilms of the Central Library and the Center for the Archives, University of Tehran); published early textbooks, Waṣāyā (Counsels) addressed to Shams al-Dīn Husaynī, Jāmi‘-i Ja‘farī (Muḥammad Ja‘far Nā’īnī’s History of Yazd under Nādir Shah, the Zand, and the Qājār Fatḥ‘Alī Shah), Nāmih-hā-yi Qazwīnī bih Taqīzādih (Qazwīnī’s Letters to Taqīzādih), Bayāḍ (lit. ‘Fair Copy’, a history of Fars of the Vizier Tāj al-Dīn Aḥmad, facsimile edition of a ms. Dated 872/1467 with Murtaḍā Tiymūrī, University of Isfahan), Qawā‘id-i Fihrist-nivīsī-yi Anglu-Amirīkan (Anglo-American Rules of Cataloguing); contributed articles to Yādnāmih-yi Bīrūnī (Bīrūnī Memorial Volume), ‘Àmirīnāmih (a collection of articles devoted to the life and works of Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Àmirī, the fourth/tenth century philosopher), Maqālāt-i Furūghī (Furūghī’s Articles); wrote annotations on Fihrist-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī-yi Kitābkhānih-hā-yi Rasht va Hamadān (Catalogue of the Manuscripts Available at the Libraries of Rasht and Hamadān), Kitābshināsī-yi Shi‘r-i Naw dar Īrān (Bibliography of Modem Poetry in Iran).

1974-1979: Director and member of the executive board of the History Society, affiliated with the Academy of Language and Literature (Iran).

1974-2010: Member of the Board of Trustees of the Library Bequeathed by Mujtabā Mīnuvī to the Bunyād-i Shāhnāma (Institute for Shāhnāma Studies).

1975: Wrote an introduction to the Catalogue of Persian Newspapers preserved in the Collection of the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran, an acknowledgement to and reviews on the Collection of the Documents on Farrukh Khān Amīn al- Dawla, Annotations on the Proceedings to the First Conférence on Iranian Studies, Kārnāmih-yi Bīst Sāl Farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn (hand-list of the works published in the Farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn), Majmū‘ih-yi Kamīnih (A Collection of Articles on Bibliography and Codicology), Jashn-nāmih-yi Parvīn-i Gunābādī (Parvīn-i Gunābādī Festschrift), Sukhanānī dar bārih-yi Furūghī (Notes on Furūghī); edited and published al-Taḥbīr fī ‘Ilm al-Ta‘bīr (Elegant Composition on the Interpretatio of Dreams), Waqfiyya-yi Kajajī (Kajajī’s Endowment Title Deed), Targhīb al-Muta‘allimīn (Encouragement of the Learners), ‘Umdat al-Kuttāb and ‘Uddat Dhawī ‘l-Albāb (The Main Reference Book for the Scribes and the Support for the Wise), Ṣūrat-i Intiẓāmāt-i Bāgh va Khalvat-i Nāṣirī dar Sāl-i 1298 Qamarī (Account of the Organization of the Nāṣirid Garden and Retreat in the Lunar Year 1298 [1880]), Nāmih-hā-yi Edward Browne bih Taqīzādih (Edward Browne’s Letters to Taqīzādih), Abū Naṣr Fārābī; edited the accounts of some of his travels abroad, further notes, and Bayāḍ-i Safar (accounts of his journeys made for Iranian Studies, bibliography, and codicology).

1976-2010: Member of the Board of Trustees supervising the publication of the works of Sayyid Muḥammad ‘Alī Jamālzādih vested in the University of Tehran.

1976: Wrote his travelogue entitled Aṭlāl-i Pārīs (lit. ‘Ruins’, fig. Monuments of Paris); contributed articles to Humā’ī-nāmih (Humā’ī Festschrift), Yādnāmih-yi Nāṣir-i Khusraw (Nāṣir-i Khusraw’s Memorial Volume), Yādnāmih-yi Daqīqī-yi Ṭūsī (Daqīqī-yi Ṭūsī’s Memorial Volume), Armaghānt barā-yi Zarrīnkūb (Zarrīnkūb Festschrift), the 20 volume edition of the Farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn in 10 volumes by the Nūshīravānī Charitable Organization, 2nd vol.; edited and published Raṣadkhānih-yi Marāgha (The Observatory of Marāgha), Shāhnāma az Khaṭṭī tā Chāpī (Shāhnāma from manuscript copies to printed editions), al-Mukhtārāt min al-Rasā’il (An Epistolary Selection including official letters, edicts, and verdicts from the fifth/eleventh to the seventh/thirteenth centuries, a facsimile edition of a unique manuscript available with the Vazīrī Library in Yazd, published by National Monuments Society, Tehran), Yādigārnāmih-yi Ibrāhīm Pūrdāvūd (Pūrdāvūd Festschrift), Majallih-yi Kāvih; 2nd ed. of Kitābshināsī-yi Firdawsī (A Bibliography of F.), Mīrzā Taqī Khān-i Amīr Kabīr (2nd edition); Fihrist-i Maqālāt-i Fārsī dar Zamīnih-yi Taḥqīqāt-i Īrānī (Catalogue of Persian Articles on Iranian Studies, 3rd vol.), an introduction to the catalogue of the manuscripts bequeathed by Mishkāt to the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran, a zoological bibliography, a bibliography of book review and critique, Laṭā’if al-Ḥaqā’iq (True Subtleties).

1977: Annotated Khāṭirāt-i Ḥājj Sayyāḥ (Ḥājj Sayyāḥ’s Memoirs); wrote Catalogue of Persian Journals from the Beginning to 1320 AHS/1941; contributed articles to the Festschrifts of Mudarris Raḍavī, Henri Corbin, Ḥabīb Yaghmā’ī; edited and published al-Akyāl wa‘l- Awzān (Measures of Capacity and Weights), Jughrāfīyā-yi Kāshān (Geography of Kāshān), Muntakhab al-Zamān (Selections of the Times; on archery), Fihrist-i Maqālāt-i Īrānshināsī dar Zabān-i ‘Arabī (Catalogue of Arabie Articles on Iranian Studies).

1978: Published Istarābādnāma (2nd edition) and al-Waqfiyyat al-Rashīdiyya (2nd edition); published Khaṭāynāma (Accounts of his travels in China), Ḥijāziyya (Accounts of his pilgrimage to Mecca), Shajara-yi Ṭayyiba (The Pure Tree), Jildsāzī dar Ṣaḥḥāft-yi Sunnatī (Cover-Making in Traditional Book-Binding; 2nd edition), Catalogue of the Manuscripts at the Central Library and the Center for Archives, University of Tehran; founded and directed the Sāzmān-i Kitāb Publications.

1979: Retired from the University of Tehran (June); resumed the publication of the Āyandih Journal for 15 years; member of the Anjuman-i Āthār-i Mīllī (National Monuments Council of Iran) and Societas Iranologica Europaea; wrote reviews on Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (Manuscripts; no. 8); published Ma‘rifat al-Ḥawās wa Tartīb Ri’āsat al-Nās (Knowledge of the Senses and the Hierarchy of People’s Positions), Ṣaḥḥāfī-yi Sunnatī (Traditional Book-Binding).

1980: Published Firdaws al-Murshidiyya fī Asrār al-Ṣamadīyya with the supplement Anwār al-Murshidiyya wa Asrār al-Ṣamadiyya (3rd edition), Awrād al-Aḥbāb wa Fuṣūs al-Ādāb (2nd edition).

1981: Published Dīwān-i Kuhnih-yi Ḥāfiẓ (3rd edition), Lawā’iḥ wa Lawāmi‘ (Slates and Gleams) of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Jāmī, a facsimile edition of the Constantinople edition); wrote reviews on Sih Risālih dar Taṣawwuf (Three Treatises on Sufism).

1982: Published Du Risālih-yi ‘Irfānī dar ‘Ishq (Two Mystical Treatises on Love); Dīwān-i Gulchīn.

1983: Published Majmū‘ih-yi Duvvum: Asnād-i Mashrūṭiyyat 1325-1330 Q (Second Collection: Constitutional Documents 1907-1912), Manāqib al-Ṣūfiyya (Virtues of the Sufis), Catalogue of the Manuscripts Available with the National Library of Malik.

1984: Published Dīwān-i Wuthūq, Rijāl- Khāṭirāt va Asnād-i Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq (Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq’s Memoirs and Documents), Majmū‘ih-yi Avval: Yāddāsht-hā-yi Tārīkhī va Asnād-i Shakhṣiyyat-hā-yi Sīyāsī-yi ‘Aṣr-i Mashrūṭiyyat (The First Collection: Historical Notes and Political Documents of the Figures of the Constitutional Period), Tadhkira-yi Anjuman-i Nāṣirī (biographical accounts of 26 poets flourishing under the Qājār Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh together with sketches of their portraits by Mirzā Ibrāhīm Khān Madā’iḥnigār Tafrishī, a facsimile edition published by Bābak Publications in Tehran), al-Ma’āthir wa ‘l-Āthār (Achievements and Deeds, vol. 1).

1985: Published Catalogue of the Manuscripts Available with the National Library of Malik, Tārīkh-i Īrān dar Dawrih-yi Qājār (History of Iran under the Qājārs), Mir’āt al-Safar wa Urdū-yi Humāyūn (Mirror of the Journey and the Royal Camp; a facsimile edition of a manuscript copied by Kalhur, the calligrapher of renown).

1986: Published Amīrnāma (a poetical composition on the conquest of Tehran in the Constitutional Period and the battle with Arshad al-Dawla).

1987: Published Catalogue of the Manuscripts Available with the National Library of Malik, Jāmī‘ al-Tawārīkh-i Ḥasanī (Compendium of Histories of Ḥasanī), Persian translation of Muntakhab-i Mir’āt al- Zamān (Selections of the Mirror of the Time), Muntakhab al-Tawārīkh (Sélection of Histories).

1988: Published Āthār wa Aḥyā’ (Achievements and the Surviving), Samariyya dar Mazārāt-i Samarqand va Sā’ir-i Ma‘lūmāt-i Rāji‘ bih Ān Shahr (The Book of Samar on the Tombs of Samarkand and Further Details Pertaining to That City, 3rd edition), Tārīkh-i Īrān dar Dawrih-yi Qājār (History of Iran under the Qājārs, 2nd edition).

1989: Published Khulāṣat al-Siyar (Summary of the Travel Accounts), Jughrāfīyā-yi Balūchistān (Geography of Baluchestan, containing two monographs by Mahdī Qā’inī and an anonymous treatise), Zindigī-yi Ṭūfānī (Tempestuous Life; autobiography), Qabālih-yi Tārīkh (Deed of History), Majmū‘ih-yi Sivvum: Guzārish-hā-yi Pulīs-i Makhfī dar Dawrih-yi Aḥmad Shāh (Reports of the Secret Police under Aḥmad Shāh), Chihil Sāl Tārīkh-i Īrān: al-Ma’āthir wa ‘l-Āthār (vols. 2-3); taught at the University of Bern (winter); honorary member of the Institute of Central and West Asian Studies, University of Karachi.

1990: Wrote reviews of ‘Ayn al-Waqā’ī‘, Falsafih-yi Ishrāq (Ḥayāt al-Nufūs), Gulshan-i Murād; published catalogue of Persian manuscripts, Catalogue of Persian Articles on Iranian Studies (vol. 4).

1990: Member of the Board of Experts, Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, London.

1991: Edited and published ‘Ālamārā-yi Shāh Ṭahmāsb (Adoration of the World [a history dedicated to] Shāh Ṭahmāsb), Khāṭirāt va Asnād-i Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq (Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq’s Memoirs and Documents); Majmū‘ih-yi Chahārūm: Mashrūṭ-iyyat dar Ādharbāyjān (The Fourth Collection: Constitutionalism in Azerbaijan).

1992: Published Yazdnāmih (vol. 1), an introduction to Tārīkh va Jughrāfīyā-yi Kuhgilūyih va Buyir Aḥmad (History of Geography of Kuhgilūyih and Buyir Aḥmad), Tārīkh va Jughrāfīyā-yi Mamasanī (History of Geography of Mamasanī), Zabān-i Farsī dar Ādharbāyjān (Persian Language in Azerbaijan).

1993: Published Kulliyāt-i Āthār-i Adīb Qāsimī-yi Kirmānī (Completed Works of Adīb Qāsimī-yi Kirmānī), Dhayl-i Tārīkh-i Guzīda (Supplément to Tārīkh-i Guzīda), Zangīnāma, Catalogue of Articles in Urdu on Iranian Studies, Catalogue of Manuscripts Available at the Malik National Library, Rūznāmih-yi Khāṭirāt-i Sardār As‘ad Ja‘far Qulī (Memoirs of Sardār As‘ad Ja‘far Qulī).

1993-2010: Consulting Editor, Encyclopedia Iranica.

1994: Khātirāt va Asnād-i Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq (Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq’s Memoirs and Documents), Majmū‘ih-yi Panjum: Sīyāsat-i Dākhilī-yi Īrān dar Dawrih-yi Aḥmad Shāh (The Fifth Collection: Iran’s Domestic Politics under Aḥmad Shāh); wrote introductions to Tārīkh-i Waqā’i‘-i ‘Ashāyirī-yi Fārs (History of the Events of the Tribes in Fars), Tārīkhnigārān-i Īrān (Historiographers of Iran), Dastūr-i Shahrīyārān (Princes’ Instructions), Dīwān-i Ash‘ār-i Ashraf-i Māzandarārnī (Complete Poetical Compositions of Ashraf-i Māzandarānī), Nāmih-hā-yi Khān Aḥmad Gīlānī (Letters of Khān Aḥmad Gīlānī).

1995: Catalogued the Persian manuscripts available with the National Library of Austria (Vienna); published Catalogue of Persian Articles on Iranian Studies (vol. 5); edited and published Bustān al-‘Uqūl fī Tarjumān-i al-Manqūl (Garden of the Intellects on the Interpretation of the Narrated); published Catalogue of the Library of Mujtabā Mīnuvī.

1996: Edited and published Mujmal al-Ḥikma (Synopsis of Philosophy), Bāznāma (Falconry), Yādigār-hā-yi Yazd (Monuments of Yazd; 2nd edition), Fihrist-i Alifbā’ī-yi Mu’allifān va Muṣannifān (An Alphabetical List of Compilers and Authors).

1997: Honorary member of the American Society for Iranian Studies; published Tuḥfat al-Muḥibbīn (Souvenir of the Lovers; on calligraphy); Shahrāshūb (a poetical genre mainly dealing with different professions); Mu‘izziyya (a treatise on physiognomy).

1998: Published Furūghistān (Land of Light), Sālshumār-i Waqā’i‘-i Mashhad dar Qarn-hā-yi Panjum tā Sīzdahum (Chronology of the Events in Mashhad from the Fifth/Eleventh to Thirteenth/Nineteenth Centuries), Khāṭirāt va Asnād-i Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq (Mustashār al-Dawla Ṣādiq’s Memoirs and Documents), Majmū‘ih-yi Shishum: Nāmih-hā-yi Tabrīz az Thiqat al-Islām-i Tabrīzī bih Mustashār al- Dawla dar Rūzigār-i Mashrūṭiyyat (The Sixth Collection: Letters from Tabriz written by Thiqat al-Islām-i Tabrīzī to Mustashār al-Dawla in the Constitutional Period).

1999: Contributed articles and chapters to Barg-i Bībargī: Yādnāmih-yi Ustād Riḍā Māyil-i Hiravī (Leaf of Leaflessness: Master Riḍā Māyil-i Hiravī Memorial Volume), Mahdavīnāmih (Yaḥyā Mahdavī Festschrift), Yādnāmih-yi ‘Allāmih Qazwīnī (Qazwīnī Memorial Volume).

1999-2010: Published Pazhūhish-hā-yi Īrānshināsī (Iranian Studies).

2000: Published Sa‘ādatnāma yā Rūznāma-yi Ghazawāt-i Hindūstān (The Book of Felicity or the Accounts of the Battles Fought in India), Fārs dar Riyāḍ al-Firdaws (Fārs in Riyāḍ al-Firdaws, the Garden of Paradise); Khāṭirāt-i Ḥusām al-Dawla Mu‘izzī (Memoirs of Ḥusām al-Dawla Mu‘izzī), Mujmal al-Tawārīkh wa ‘l-Qaṣaṣ (Selections of Histories and Tales, a facsimile edition of a manuscript dated 751/1350 available at a library in Berlin, published in collaboration with Maḥmūd Umīdsālār by Majmū‘ih-yi Nuskhihbargardān, ‘Facsimile Collection’, Tehran).

2000-2010: Member of the editorial board of Nāmih-yi Bahāristān Journal; supervised the publication of Ganjīnih-yi Nuskhih-bargardān-i Mutūn-i Fārsī (Treasure of the Facsimile Editions of Persian Texts) in affiliation with Sāzmān-i Gustarish-i Farhang-i Pārsī (Dissemination of Persian Culture Organization; US).

2001: Edited and published Ma‘rifat-i Āfarīnish-i Insān (Knowledge of the Creation of Man), Ma’āthir al-Ṣadriyya (Achievements of Ṣadr), Būstān-i Sa‘dī (facsimile edition of selections copied by Aḥmad Qawām al-Salṭana, the Qājār statesman and calligrapher of renown), Tārīkh-i Sifārat-i Ḥājjī Khalīl Kbān va Muḥammad Nabī Khān Sufarā-yi Fatḥ‘alī Shāh Qājār bih Hindūstān (History of the Embassy of Ḥājjī Khalīl Khān and Muḥammad Nabī Khān, the Emissaries of the Qājār Fatḥ‘alī Shāh to India), Barg-hā-’ī az Mashrūṭih (Leaves from the Constitutional Period).

2001-2010: Member of the editorial board of Eurasian Studies (Italy).

2002: Published Maṭba‘ih va Naqqāshī va Khāghaz-sāzī az Maṭla‘ al-‘Ulūm va Majma‘ al-Funūn (Printing, Illustration, and Paper-Making, Extracted from Maṭla‘ al-‘Ulūm va Majma‘ al-Funūn, lit. Origin of the Sciences and the Compendium of the Arts), Du Risālih-yi Kanāna az Majmū‘ih-yi Mujtabā Mīnuvī (Two Early Treatises from the Collection of Mujtabā Mīnuvī,; Yādmān-i Simīnār-i Muqaddamātī-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (Proceedings of the Preliminary Conference on Manuscripts), Fihristvārih-yi Kitāb-hā-yi Fārsī (General Catalogue of Persian Books), Ḥadīth-i ‘Ishq 2: Dānish Pazhūh dar Qalamraw-i Justār-hā-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (Story of Love 2: Dānish Pazhūh in the Field of Codicological Studies, vol. 1).

2003: Published of the Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts at the National Library of Austria and the State Archives of Austria in Vienna, Khāṭirāt-i Dīwānbiygī az Sāl-hā-yi 1217-1275 Q: Kurdistān va Ṭihrān (Memoirs of Dīwānbiygī between the years 1802-1858), Jung-i Murtaḍā Qulī Khān Shāmlū (Miscellany of Murtaḍā Qulī Khān Shāmlū); Hazār Ḥikāyat-i Sūfīyān (One Thousand Taies of Sufis)

2003-2010.: Member of the editorial board of the Ā’īnih-yi Mīrāth (Mirror of Heritage) Journal.

2004: Wrote an introduction to the Catalogue of the Manuscripts at the Library of Mīrzā Muḥammad Kāẓimaynī (Yazd); edited and published Kitābfurūshī (Book Shops [in Iran, A History], vol. 1), Nāmih-hā-yi Furūgh al-Dawla (Letters of Furūgh al-Dawla), Mānīshināsī (Manichaean Studies) of Taqīzādih, Jawāhir-i Niẓāmī (Jewels of Niẓāmī) of Jawharī Nīshāburī (in collaboration with Rasūl Daryāgasht), Catalogue of Persian Articles on Iranian Studies (vol. 6).

2004-2010: Supervised publication of the Ganjīnih-yi Nashriyyāt-i Advārī (Treasure of Periodicals), published by Asāṭīr Publications.

2005: Produced a facsimile edition of the Shāhnama of Firdawsi from a manuscript at the British Library in collaboration with Maḥmūd Umīdsālār; published Dhakhīra-yi Khwārazmshāhī (the Khwārazam- shāhid Treasure; 2nd edition ).

2006: Edited and published Khābguzārī (Interpretation of Dreams together with al-Ta‘bīr of Imam Fakhr Rāzī, 2nd edition), Khatm al-Gharā’ib Tuḥfat al-‘lrāqayn (The Most Astounding Thing, also entitled the Souvenir of the Two Iraqs) of Khāqānī Shirvānī, Riyāḍ al-Firdaws-i Khānī (Garden of Paradise of Khānī), al-Mufīd al-Khāṣṣ fī ‘Ilm al- Khawāṣṣ (The Particularly Useful on the Knowledge of the Elite) attributed to Muḥammad ibn Zakariyā’ Rāzī), the 30 volume series of the Farhang-i Īrān-Zamīn in 15 volumes published by Sukhan Publications.

2007: Edited and published al-Īḍāḥ ‘an Uṣūl Ṣinā‘at al-Massāḥ (The Elucidation of Principles of the Art of the Surveyor), Asnād-i Tārīkhī-yi Khāndān-i Ghaffān (Historical Documents of the Ghaffarī Family, vol. 2: The Qājār Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh’s Autographs), Manẓūmāt-i Sharf al-Dīn ‘Alī Yazdī (Compositions of Sharf al-Dīn ‘Alī Yazdī).

2008: Edited and published Hidāyat al-Muta‘allimīn fī ‘l-Ṭibb (Guide of the Students in Medicine), Shams al-Ḥisāb-i al-Fakhrī (The Sun of Arithmetic of al-Fakhrī), Iskandarnāma (The Book of Alexander), Ma‘rifat-i Falāḥat (Knowledge of Agriculture).

2009: Edited and published Munsha’āt (Epistolary Compositions) of Sharf al-Dīn ‘Alī Yazdī (in collaboration with Muḥammad Riḍā Abū’ī Mahrīzī), Kitābfurūshī (vol. 2), Iranian Studies (vol. 18), Dastūr al-Jumhūr fī Manāqib Sulṭān al-‘Ārifīn Abū. Yazīd Ṭayfūr (Instructions to the People on the Virtues of the Sultan of the Mystics Abū Yazīd Ṭayfūr; in collaboration with Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh), Ādāb al-Muḍīfīn wa Zād al-Ākilīn (Etiquette of the Guests and the Provision of the Eaters), Fīrūzshāhnāma (sequel to Dārābnāma), Tārīkh-i Waṣṣāf (History of Waṣṣāf al-Ḥaḍra); supervised the publication of the Catalogue of Persian Articles (vol. 7).

2010: Published Akhbār-i Mughulān dar Anbāna-yi Mullā Quṭb (History of the Mongols in the Satchel of Mullā Quṭb), Asnād-i Tārīkhī- yi Khāndān-i Ghaffārī (The Historical Documents of the Ghaffārī Family), Asnād-i Mi‘mārī-yi Īrān: Kitābchih-yi Amlāk-i Īnjū-yi Fārs (Documents on the Architecture of Iran: The List of the Īnjū Ruler of Fārs), Iranian Studies (vol. 19, Dr. Maḥmūd Afshār’s Memorial), Maqālāt-i Taqīzādib: Gāhshumārī dar Īrān-i Qadīm (Taqīzādih’s Articles: Chronology in Ancient Iran), Iranian Studies (vol. 20).

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ādharang, ‘Abd al-Ḥusayn, “Īrānshinās-i Buzurg īraj Afshār” (Iraj Afshar: Doyen of Iranian Studies), the Bukhārā, no. 81 (Khurdād-Tīr 1390 AHS/May-July 2001), pp. 53-65.

Afkārī, Farībā, “Ustād Afshār va Taqwīm-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī dar Kitābkhānih-yi Markazī-yi Dānishgāh-i Tihrān” (Professor Afshar and Appraisal of Manuscripts at the Central Library of The University of Tehran), the Bukhārā, no. 81 (Khurdād-Tīr 1390 AHS/May-July 2001), pp. 520-531.

Afshār, Bābak et al, Fihrist-i Mawḍū‘ī az Nivishtih-hā va Chap-kardih-hā-yi Īraj-i Afshār Marbūṭ bih Sāl-hā-yi 1323-1381 (Subject List of Iraj Afshar’s Writings and Printed Works Published between 1944-2002.), 4th edition, Los Angeles 2003. Afshar’s articles on codicology (36), pp. 41-42; catalogues of manuscripts (53), pp. 42-45; articles on unique manuscripts (69), pp. 45-69.

Idem, “Sargudhasht va Sarnivisht-i Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (The Story and Fate of Manuscripts)”, the Nāmih-yi Bahāristān, vol. 12, nos. 18-19,1390 AHS/2011-2012, pp. 11-21. Originally a talk delivered on 30 November 1991 at al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Institute, London. The Persian text also appeared in: the Majallih-yi Īrānshināsī (US), vol. 4, no. 1, (Spring 1992), pp. 31-47.

Anvār, Sayyid ‘Abd Allah, “Iraj Afshar, Kitābshinās, Nuskhihshinās,” (Iraj Afshar, Bibliographer, Codicologist), the Bukhārā, ibid, pp. 461-472.

Baqirzādih, Muḥsin, Arjnāmih-yi Īraj (Iraj Afshar Festschrift), 2 vols., Tehran 1377 AHS/1998.

Islami, Kambiz, Iran and Iranian Studies: Essays in Honor of Iraj Afshar, edited by Kambiz Eslami Princeton, N.J., Zagros Press, 1998.

Mīranṣārī, ‘Alī, “Guftugu bā Īraj Afshār dar bārih-yi Fihristnigārī-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī” (Conversation with Iraj Afshar on Cataloguing Manuscripts), the Bukhārā, no. 81 (Khurdād-Tīr 1390 AHS/May-July 2001), pp. 473-488.

Qāsimī, Sayyid Farīd, “Sālnigār-i Zindigī-yi Īraj Afshār” (Chro-nol-ogy of the Life of Iraj Afshar), the Bukhārā, no. 81 (Khurdād-Tīr 1390 AHS/May-July 2001), pp. 66-106.

Idem, Irānshinās-i Majallihnigār: Zindigī va Kārnāmih-yi Maṭbū‘āṭī-yi Īraj Afshār (The Journalist Iranist: The Life and Journalistic Career of Iraj Afshar), Tehran 2010.

Takmīl Humāyūn, Nāṣir, “Īraj Afshār va Bun-māyih-yi Farhangī-yi ‘Ishq va Ishtiyāq bih īrān” (Iraj Afshar and the Cultural Origin of [His] Enthusiasm and Love for Iran), the Bukhārā, no. 81 (Khurdād-Tīr 1390 AHS/May-July 2001), pp. 438-451.

IRAJ AFSHAR’S APPROACH TO CATALOGUING AND EDITING MANUSCRIPTS

This section will endeavour to summarise Afshar’s views and methodology relating to cataloguing and editing manuscripts. These can be ascertained from his numerous books and articles, as well as from a lecture delivered at the al-Furqān Institute, London, on 30 November 1991.

Cataloguing manuscripts in Iran, irrespective of the language of the manuscripts - Persian, Arabie, and Turkish in the main - is mainly based on the subject or call number, rather than the language itself.

Understanding the State of Persian manuscripts and their cataloguing and editing is significant for at least two reasons. Firstly, a survey of the colophons and the writing styles of manuscripts reveals that they have been written and copied over six to seven centuries in all Persian speaking territories, or at least in those where there was some degree of acquaintance with Persian literature.

A plethora of Persian manuscripts are to be found in library collections, public and private, in Arabie speaking countries such as Syria, Egypt and Iraq, as well as in the Indian subcontinent and the Ottoman Empire and its territorial lands, for example the Balkans. Such rich collections reveal that Persian was used at court as well as in literary circles in these lands. These manuscripts may be distinguished by their spécifie styles of illustration and writing.

Secondly, collections of Persian manuscripts can be found today in a wide range of countries, comprising Persian speaking countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan; their neighbouring countries, i.e. India, Pakistan, and Turkey; as well as many other countries the world over. Unfortunately, a large number of manuscript collections are still uncatalogued and no exact statistics are available to us.

Many significant Persian manuscripts bear their regional identities. Instances include those written by the Persian authors of the Indian subcontinent, particularly from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. A large number of these are still available there and may be used by scholars researching different fields, including Indian history, Hindu literature in Persian, and the Sufi orders of India, for example the Chishtiyya, Qādiriyya, Nūrbakhshiyya, and Suhrawardiyya. Similarly, the manuscript collections of Transoxiana, in cities like Tashkent, Dushanbe, Samarqand, and Bukhara, can be consulted and used for a vast array of studies, one instance being the Sufi orders of Transoxiana, e.g. the Khwājagān and Naqshbandiyya.

The majority of the local histories of Iran written in the last two centuries existed in public and private collections which now reside in the National Library of Iran, the Gulestan Library, the Majlis Library, or the Malek Library, with some others in Mashhad, Tabriz, Shiraz, and Isfahan.

The geographical distribution of Persian manuscripts around the world serves as an impediment to locating and using them. To overcome this hurdle - as discussed in different seminars and conferences, for example Colloque de codicologie et de paleographie des manuscrits du Moyen-Orient (Istanbul 1986) - a number of strategies may be adopted (see below).

Systematic codicological training and exposure to different manuscripts under the supervision of experts may assist cataloguers in gaining further knowledge and experience in an array of topics, including sources, references, types of paper, handwriting, binding, illumination, and illustration.

The availabihty of printed books and the focusing of librarians on the printed material has marginalized the study of manuscripts and inhibited the adoption of universal criteria for cataloguing them. Nonetheless, a number of book connoisseurs over the last six or seven decades have handed down their expertise to the next generation and thereby preserved their traditional knowledge of codicology. Among these are Muhammad Qazvīnī (1877-1949), Muḥammad ‘Alī Tarbiyat (1874-1939), Muḥammad Nakhjavānī (1881-1962), Ḥusayn Nakhjavānī (1882-1973), Muḥammad Mishkāt (1901-1980), Mujtabā Mīnuvī (1902-1976), Muḥammad Taqī Mudarris Raḍavī (1895-1986), Ja‘far Sulṭān al-Qurrā’ī (1904-1988), and Mahdī Bayānī (1906-1967).

Other early, distinguished cataloguers include Qā’ān Mīrzā Uktā’ī (d. 1890; Mashhad), Abū ’l-Qāsim l‘tiṣām al-Mulk (1874-1937; Majlis), Ḥadā’iq Shīrāzī (1905-1987; Sipahsālār), and ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Javāhirkalām (Ma‘ārif). These individuals from the first period of cataloguing strove to combine their own traditional knowledge and standards with those of the Orientalists as reflected in their manuscript catalogues.

Notable cataloguers from the second period, who enabled the discipline of manuscript cataloguing to flourish in Iran, include Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh (1911-1996), ‘Alīnaqī Munzavī (1923-2010), Aḥmad Munzavī, Mahdī Valā’ī (1902-2002), Aḥmad Gulchīn Ma‘ānī ( 1916-2000), ‘Abd al-Ḥusayn Ḥā’irī, and ‘Abd Allah Anvār.

The third period of cataloguing, covering the last two decades, has witnessed the emergence of a large number of expert codicologists and literary figures contributing to the field.

Academie codicology in Iran requires the use of a consistent series of principles and standards. In 1991 Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh, in collaboration with the Department of Library Studies, succeeded in introducting a special program on academie codicology and cataloguing of manuscripts at the University of Tehran’s Central Library.

Unfortunately, catalogues of Persian manuscripts prepared in Iran lack consistency in their use of codicological principles, standards, and terminology. Each cataloguer prepares the hand-lists or catalogues based on his own knowledge and experience, at times benefiting from the registers and the manuscripts’ own notes. Furthermore, some Western cataloguers, unaware of the intricacies of traditional oriental manuscripts, have exclusively followed occidental principles and standards.

Compilation of a standard manual of codicology, including a terminology with precise and standard definitions and their English equivalents, is still a desideratum, and works like Mahdī Bayānī’s Kitābshināsī-yi Kitāb-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (A Codicological Study of Manuscripts; Tehran 1953) and Riḍā Māyil Hiravī’s (1921-1991) Lughāt va Iṣṭilāḥāt-i Fann-i Kitābsāzī Hamrāh bā Iṣṭilāḥāt-i Jildsāzī, Tadhhīb va Naqqāshī (Terminology of the Art of the Book along with those of Binding, Illumination, and Illustration) are incomplete and outdated. A further step would be a comparison of the terms used in the Persian tradition with those commonly used in Arabie, Turkish, and Urdu. The problem does not simply lie in the fact that the principles and terminology of Persian manuscripts are not academically recorded, but that many terms used in the Persian codicological tradition are unknown to us. For instance, the names of thirty-one types of paper have been extracted from the collation notes and marginalia of Persian manuscripts and classical texts, but the precise significations of these terms are not known.

A solution to this issue would be to prepare a corpus or database of all the sources on different aspects of codicology, e.g. those on calligraphy, binding, and papermaking. Some of these have been edited, translated, and published, such as Gulistān-i Hunar (Rose Garden of Art) by Vladimir Minorsky and later by Aḥmad Suhiylī Khwānsārī, Risālih-yi Rang-i Kāghadh-i Sīmī-yi Nīshābūrī (Treatise on the Color of the Paper of Sīmī of Nishabūr) by Louise Marlow, and Ishārāt (Instructions) by Yves Porter. It may also be suggested that in order to gather the original forms of the terms and to systematically collect the codicological data, one should study the collation notes (‘ard) and the marginalia on codicological features of oriental manuscripts. One instance of such a work is the valuable list on the manuscripts of Safī al-Dīn Ardabīlī’s collection, prepared in 1758 by Sayyid Yūnusī (Tabriz 1969), entitled Ganjīnih-yi Ṣafī (The Treasure of Ṣafī). This serves as a good example for anyone wishing to acquaint themselves with the traditional terms used by early collectors and manuscript connoisseurs.

An accurate assessment of the number of manuscripts in Iran cannot be given, since they are scattered in public, academie, and private library collections as well as government administrative buildings, mosques, and shrines. However, it may be roughly estimated that their number exceeds 200,000, half of which are likely to be in Arabie. It may also be estimated that approximately 60,000 manuscripts have been hand-listed or catalogued in printed catalogues, periodicals, and the introductions to editions of classical texts. Accordingly, it may be surmised that approximately 140,000 manuscripts have yet to be catalogued or hand- listed. In addition, a proportion of the recent acquisitions made by major libraries in Iran, such as the Majlis Library, the Central Library of the University of Tehran, the Mar‘ashī Library in Qum, the National Library of Iran, and the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, remain uncatalogued.

Given the plethora of unknown and uncatalogued manuscripts, cataloguers must prioritise those most in need of editing or bringing to the attention of the scholarly world. Each library is supposed to publish the hand-lists or catalogues of its entire manuscript collection. However, given the time, energy, and funding required for this, experts in codicology and textual criticism should instead be consulted to prepare catalogues and preferably hand-lists of selected manuscripts in order to pave the way for further studies. For instance, the majority of manuscripts for general histories of Iran have not been critically catalogued. Significant works of this type include: Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah Hamadānī’s Jāmi‘ al-Tawārīkh; Hāfiẓ Abrū’s Zubdat al-Tawārīkh; Khwāndmīr’s Ḥabīb al-Siyar; Mīr Khwānd’s Rawḍat al-Ṣafā; Muḥammad Ṣafī Qazwīnī’s Khuld-i Barīn on general histories; Sharaf al-Dīn ‘Alī Yazdī’s Ẓafarnāma; Iskandar Biyk Munshī’s ‘Ālamārā-yi ‘Abbāsī on dynastic histories; Tāj al-Dīn Ḥasan Niẓāmī Nīshābūrī’s Tāj al-Ma’āthir on the history of India; Hasht Bihisht on Ottoman history; the works of Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allah Hamadānī, e.g. Taqrīẓāt, As’ila wa Ajwiba, and Majmū‘at al-Rashīdiyya-, Muḥammad ibn Abī Zayd ibn ‘Arabshāh ‘Alawī Warāmīnī’s Aḥsan al-Kibār fī Ma‘rifat al-A’immat al- Aṭhār on the biographical accounts of Shī‘ī scholars; Qāḍī Nūr Allah Shūshtarī’s Majālis al-Mu’minīn on the biographies of Shī‘ī religious scholars flourishing up to the seventeenth century; and even Mullā Ḥusayn Kāshifī’s Rawḍat al-Shuhadā’.

The large number of such classical sources has always impeded a critical evaluation and prioritisation of the manuscripts. To overcome this, a chronological list of classical Persian texts based on their manuscripts could be prepared. A critical and standard list of selected sources in all disciplines may help with the introduction of works of significance, such as Niẓāmī’s (fl. 12th century) Jawāhir-nāma on gems, which Naṣīr al- Dīn al-Ṭūsī incorporated in its entirety into his Tansūkh-nāma without even naming his source.

Two, more or less forgotten, aspects which should be considered when studying Persian manuscripts are: (i) the material, apparent, and artistic features, and (ii) the writing style, shown through the forms of words and the linguistic intricacies as opposed to the calligraphic and artistic features. Regarding the former, although some experts have delved into the codicological aspect and have offered classifications, teams of experts are needed to fully assess the dates and locations where manuscripts were produced and suggest consistent, academically rigourous standards. Contributions in this domain include the monographs of scholars like Basil Gray, B. W. Robinson, and Ernest Grube, as well as the catalogue of Persian illustrated manuscripts held at the Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyya that was produced by Naṣr Allah Mubashshir al-Ṭirāzī. Despite these contributions, the arts of Persian Folkloric, religious, and regal books are not sufficiently known and further studies must be conducted on binding, particularly Persian binding.

Concerning the second aspect, the copyists’ dialects are reflected in their specifie vocalization of words. This is something of particular significance for Persian philological studies. Another feature is the particular forms of the words and how they join together when used in compounds. This varies over time according to the copying styles used in different regions, and also to some degree due to the copyists’ own idiosyncratic writing styles. When considered alongside the logic of orthography and language, this may contribute to finding solutions to orthographie issues.

The catalogues of Astān-i Quds (Mashhad) and Majlis (Tehran) were the first to appear in Iran, in 1926. Since then, manuscript catalogues have appeared intermittently, depending upon funding and historical events. At present there are no plans to prepare catalogues or even hand-lists for the manuscripts scattered in small libraries in Iran. Major libraries, on the other hand, have published catalogues of their manuscript collections, instances of these include: the National Library (‘Alīnaqī Munzavī); Majlis Library (‘Abd al-Ḥusayn Ḥā’irī); Mar‘ashī Library, Qum (Aḥmad Ḥusaynī Ishkivarī); the Central Library of the University of Tehran (Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh); and the library of the Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia (Aḥmad Munzavī).

It may be estimated that the number of Persian manuscripts catalogues published in different countries exceeds one thousand. Afshar’s assessment of such catalogues, commissioned by UNESCO and published in 1958, is outdated. Al-Furqān’s World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts (4 vols., 1992-1994, including the collections in 105 countries) is a more recent contribution.

Persian periodicals devoted to the study of Persian manuscripts include: Nashriyyih-yi Nuskhih-hā-yi Khaṭṭī (12 vols. 1960-1983), published by the Central Library and the Center for Archives of the University of Tehran; Āshnā’ī bā Cband Nuskhih-yi Khaṭṭī (Acquaintance with Some Manuscripts 1976-), published by two seminarians, Ḥusayn Mudarrisī Ṭabāṭabā’ī and Riḍā Ustādī; and Nāmih-yi Bahāristān (20 vols., 2002-2014), published by the Library, Museum and Documentation Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, (Majlis-i Shūrā-yi Islāmī).

Collective cataloguing of manuscripts is not a commonly used practice, but it could be encouraged to facilitate the task and attain better results. Such catalogues prepared in Iran include: the catalogue of the Madrasa-yi Sipahsālār by Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh and ‘Alīnaqī Munzavī; the catalogues of six library collections in Mashhad by Kāẓim Mudīr Shānihchī (1927-2002), ‘Abd Allah Nūrānī (1929-2011), and Taqī Bīnish (1928-1996); the catalogue of the library of the National Consultative Assembly (Majlis-i Shūrā-yi Millī), vols, 11-16; and the catalogue of the National Library of Malik, presented in nine volumes by ten cataloguers.

A union catalogue in Persian was first prepared by Aḥmad Munzvī, who had been inspired by C. A. Storey’s ground-breaking work. Munzavī had collaborated with his father, Āqā Buzurg Ṭihrānī, in the compilation of the voluminous bibliographical work, al-Dharī‘a ilā Taṣānīf al-Shī‘a. In 1969 Munzvī made attempts at compiling a union catalogue incorporating all the published manuscript catalogues as well as all other manuscripts that had been catalogued both in Iran and abroad. He succeeded in publishing six volumes of his union catalogue.

Publication of the catalogue was stopped while Munzavī was still in charge. Instead he travelled to the Iran Pakistan Institute of Persian Studies in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and presented a new project related to manuscripts there. He published 13 volumes of his union catalogue of Persian manuscripts in Pakistan between 1983 and 1997. This includes a documented subject index of Persian manuscripts and printed books arranged by title and is not restricted to only Persian manuscripts located in Pakistan.

Further union catalogues include that of the Arabie manuscripts in Iran prepared by Muḥammad Bāqir Ḥujjatī. Two volumes of this were published in 1990, arranged by subject, date of copying, and title. The union catalogue of A. M. Piemontese (Catalogo dei manoscritti. Persiani conservati nelle biblioteche d’Italia, 1989), detailing 439 Persian manuscripts in library collections in different cities, may serve as a good model for such union catalogues.

The first person in Iran to prepare photos and microfilms of manuscripts of classical sources for use in editing and publication was Muḥammad Qazvīnī (1877-1949) in 1925. These are all available now at the National Library of Iran. However, Henri Corbin, in his capacity as the Director of l’Institut français d’iranologie de Téhéran (IFIT), was the first person to prepare microfilms of certain philosophical, mystical, and historical manuscripts, some of which belonged to private collections.

Mujtabā Mīnuvī spent six years in Turkey preparing microfilms of manuscripts which are now at the Central Library of the University of Tehran. To this was later added the collection of microfilms prepared by Dhabīḥ Allah Ṣafā at the then British Museum Library (moved later to the British Library) and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. A three- volume catalogue of approximately 7,500 microfilms from this collection - a large number of which came from private collections - was prepared and published by Muḥammad Taqī Dānishpazhūh. Āstān-i Quds library also has microfilms, though its catalogue has not been published. The National Library of Malek has prepared microfilms of its manuscript collection, but the catalogue has not yet been published. The first volume of the microfilms, including 500 out of 2,000 microfilms at the Mar‘ashī Library in Qum, has appeared.

Afshar’s views and suggestions regarding cataloguing and critically editing manuscripts may be summarised as follows:

• Foundation of a centre for training codicologists and cataloguers of manuscripts in line with academie principles and standards.
• Compilation, in both Persian and English, of a manual of codicology and cataloguing for those studying and cataloguing Persian, Turkish, and Arabie manuscripts.
• Compilation of a brief survey of the manuscript collections in Iran and collation of relatively reliable statistics.
• Preparation of a union catalogue of Persian manuscripts whose catalogues have been published both in Iran and abroad whether in Persian or other languages, along with indices of titles, authors, copyists, and subjects.
• Preparation of hand-lists of uncatalogued Persian manuscripts in Iran and abroad, taking into account the priorities of the subjects of the manuscripts.
• Preparation of a chronological list of early manuscripts to be used in the standardisation of Persian orthography and pronunciation up to the ninth/fifteen century.
• Collection of the collation (‘arḍ) notes of Persian manuscripts and early catalogues containing bibliographical data, to aid in the standardisation of terminology as well as the principles and standards of codicology and cataloguing.
• Preparation of a list of selected classical Persian texts and their manuscripts to assist in the production of critical edition s of those texts.
• A distinction, not necessarily a very clear one, must be drawn between bibliography and codicology on the one hand and textual criticism and cataloguing on the other. Codicological principles, e.g. the standards of punctuation and vocalisation, were accorded less significance in the Persian tradition of cataloguing prior to the preparation of the catalogue of manuscripts in the National Library of Iran.
• Cataloguing is a relative and conventional process depending on an array of factors, such as the extent of inclusion of data; the cataloguer’s knowledge, time, and precision; and the funding required for the cataloguing and publication of the catalogue/hand-list. For instance, a hand-list would suffice for a collection of 100 manuscripts, the majority of which bear no particular significance, whereas a royal library collection would require a catalogue raisonne.
• Instead of including elaborate descriptions of the contents for the majority of manuscripts, references should be made to standard references like Storey, Aḥmad Munzavī’s union catalogues, and Rieu.
• It would require less time, energy, and funding to merely prepare hand-lists of uncatalogued manuscript collections, leaving further details to be included in catalogues at a later stage, depending upon the significance of each individual manuscript.

^[1]NOTES

 The title refers to the City of Yazd, well-known as such in Persian classical texts.