Middle Eastern ms.- Kamal al-Din. Farhad u Shirin, Persian manuscript on paper, richly decorated in gold, Persia, c.1800.

Middle Eastern ms.- Kamal al-Din Vahshi Baqfi (c.1532-83). Farhad u Shirin, Persian manuscript on paper, 20 leaves and 2 blanks, text written horizontally and diagonally in two central columns and in outer margins of each page in elegant shikasteh script in black ink, each line contained within a gilt cloudband, richly decorated with floral and vegetal motifs in gold throughout, loose within contemporary limp roan, stamped in gilt and red, a little rubbed and some wear to fore-edge of upper cover, 8vo, 162 x 115mm., Persia, c.1800.

⁂ A lovely manuscript poem about the tragic love affair of the sculptor Farhad and the Armenian princess Shirin, written in the meter of Nizami's Khusrau u Shirin. The author was born in the agricultural town of Baqf and died in nearby Yazd.

Provenance: late 19th century inscription "Capt Mignon 15" on first blank page.