Princeton's Great Persian Book of Kings: The Peck Shahnama

Princeton’s Great Persian Book of Kings presents the first comprehensive examination of a beautifully decorated yet relatively unknown manuscript of the Shahnama (Book of Kings), created in 1589–90 in the flourishing cultural center of Shiraz. Held by Princeton University and called the Peck Shahnama after its donor, the work ranks among the finest intact 16th-century Persian manuscripts in the United States.
 
Composed more than one thousand years ago, the epic poem Shahnama narrates the story of Iran from the dawn of time to the 7th century A.D. Its 50,000 verses and countless tales of Iran’s ancient kings and heroes have been a vital source of artistic inspiration in Persian culture for centuries. Author Marianna Shreve Simpson offers a detailed discussion of the Peck Shahnama, including its origins, history, and artistic characteristics. All of the manuscript’s intricately illuminated and illustrated folios are reproduced with stunning new photography, and each is accompanied by commentary on its narrative themes and artistic presentation. An essay by Louise Marlow explores the manuscript’s extensive marginal glosses, an unusual feature of the Peck Shahnama.

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• Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings (Illustrated Edition, Slipcased)
• Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings (Penguin Classics)
• Zahhak: The Legend Of The Serpent King
• Persian Miniatures (Mega Square)
• The Steppe and the Sea: Pearls in the Mongol Empire (Encounters with Asia)
• The Praiseworthy One: The Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Texts and Images
• Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs
• Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism
• The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran