DABESTĀN (lit., “school”), Persian monthly cultural journal published in Mašhad in 1301-02 Š./1922-23 and 1305-06 Š./1926-27. The first issue appeared on 1 Rabīʿ II 1341/12 October 1922, and the last was printed on 1 Šahrīvar, 1306 Š./24 August 1927. A biweekly journal by the same name had been published in 1324/1906 in Tabrīz.
The owner and editor of Dabestān, Sayyed Ḥasan Moškān Ṭabasī (b. Ṭabas 1297/1879; d. Tehran 1328 Š./1949), was a poet, writer, and lawyer. He had studied in Yazd, Isfahan, Egypt, and France and, after his return to Persia, had taught in Mašhad, where he also began publishing Dabestān. Publication was suspended temporarily when Ṭabasī moved to Tehran to take a position at the Ministry of justice (Wezārat-e dādgostarī). He also taught at the Faculty of theology (Dāneškada-ye maʿqūl wa manqūl) and became an active member of the Farhangestān literary society (Anjoman-e adabī-e farhangestān). In his absence the last issues of Dabestān were edited under the direction of Aḥmad Bahār, publisher of the Mašhad newspaper Bahār.
Dabestān was conceived as a forum for publication of works by members of the Khorasan literary society (Anjoman-e adabī-e Ḵorāsān). Each issue also contained articles dealing with scientific topics. The journal contained no illustrations and carried few advertisements. Each issue comprised more than forty single-columned pages, measuring 14 x 20 cm; they were typeset at the Khorasan publishing company (Čāp-ḵāna-ye Ḵorāsān).
Editions of Dabestān are to be found in the Majles library, Tehran; in the library of Āstān-e qods-e rażawī; at the Asia Institute of Shiraz university; and in the library of Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.) in the United States.
Bibliography:
Ī. Afšār, “Jarayānhā-ye adabī dar majallāt-e fārsī,” Rāhnamā-ye ketāb 20/11-12, 1356 Š./1977, pp. 778-80.
Bāmdād, Rejāl VI, pp. 78-79.
Š. Esfandīārī et al., Maṭbūʿāt-e Īrān. Fehrest-e taḥlīlī-e ketāb-ḵāna-ye Majles-e senā, Tehran, 1358 Š./1979, p. 100.
Fehrest-e majallāt-e mawjūd dar ketāb-ḵāna-ye Āstān-e qods-e rażawī I, Mašhad, 1367 Š./1988, p. 142.
A. Goḷčīn-e Maʿānī, “Yād-ī az Sayyed Ḥasan Moškān Ṭabasī,” Āstān-e qods 1-2, 1339 Š./1960, pp. 98-108.
R. Mach and R. D. McChesney, “A List of Persian Serials in the Princeton University Library,” unpublished monograph, Princeton, N.J., 1971.
A. Nô Rouze (Ḥasan Moqaddam), “Registre analytique annoté de la presse persane depuis la guerre,” RMM 60/254, 1926, p. 57.
Ṣadr Hāšemī, Jarāʾed o majallāt II, pp. 277-80.
M. Solṭānī, Fehrest-e majallahā-ye fārsī az ebtedā tā sāl-e 1320-e šamsī, Tehran, 1356 Š./1977, pp. 52-53.
L. Sūdbaḵš, Fehrest-e našrīyāt-e adwārī dar ketāb-ḵāna-ye markazī-e Fārs, Shiraz, 1368 Š./1989, p. 953.
(Nassereddin Parvin)
Originally Published: December 15, 1993
Last Updated: November 10, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VI, Fasc. 5, p. 532
