DATE CHANGE: Columbia University Seminars on Iranian Studies

PROF. ULRICH MARZOLPH

Enzyklopädie des Märchens Göttingen Universität

Monday May 14, 2012
“The Shahnameh in Print:
Early Printed Editions of the Persian National Epic”

Summary

The Shahnameh was first published in print at the beginning of the Nineteenth century through the effort of British colonialist scholars in India. Following Matthew Lumsdens unfinished effort to print the Shahnameh (1811), the epic's first complete scholarly edition was achieved by Major TurnerMacan (1829). Besides this editio princeps, several other scholarly editions, such as those by Jules Mohl (1838-78) and Johann August Vullers (1877- 79) appeared in the course of the nineteenth century, all of them printed from movable type. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the Shahnameh's early editions were produced in India and Iran where they were printed by way of lithography. After a short introduction into the history of printing in Iran, and particularly the history of lithographic printing, my presentation will discuss in some detail the Shahnameh's lithographed editions published during the Qajar period. Special attention will be devoted to the illustrated editions and their images.

Bio-Notice

Ulrich Marzolph is a professor of Islamic Studies at the Georg August-University in Göttingen, Germany, and a senior member of the "Enzyclopaedie des Maerchens," a research and publishing institution associated with the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. His particular research interest is the narrative culture of the Muslim Near and Middle East, both historical and modern. He has published widely on Arabic, Persian, and Turkish folktales and popular narratives, most recently editing several books on the "Thousand and One Nights". He has also contributed to the study of printing and publishing in Iran. His 2001 book "Narrative Illustration in Persian Lithographed Books" has been awarded the Iranian State Prize as an outstanding contribution to Persian studies.

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