Complete Key to the Persian Entrance Course for 1897-1898 (for the University of Allahabad)

This is a 35 mm microfilm copy of the "Complete Key to the Persian Entrance Course for 1897-1898 (for the University of Allahabad)" by Oudh Behari Lal and Jwala Prasada, published at Allahabad in 1896.

There are ~190 frames, mostly 2 pages per frame, ~375 pages, total. The title page (shown in the picture) has 100+ year old bibliographic markups but the remaining pages are clean and unmarked.

It is a positive image (black print on white background), not a negative image. The page images are clean, clear and readable. I noticed no cutoff pages or blurred text on the many pages that I examined closely but I did not read every page.

This extremely RARE text is the work cited by Schuyler V. R. Cammann, the famous Anthropologist and Oriental and Middle East scholar. Cammann used it to further establish that the stories of The Three Princes of Serendip were based, in part, on the real life Bahram Gur, the Sassanian King from 420-440 AD in the region once known as Persia and now known as Iran.

Cammann's important 1969 paper, "Christopher the Armenian and the Three Princes of Serendip", is partially based upon this English translation of Lal and Prasada.

The entrance exam tested the reading and translation skills of students. The 1897-1898 test includes "Selections From the Hasht Bihisht by Amir Khusro." The Hasht Bihisht is an adaptation of Firdausi's Shahnamah (1010 AD) and Nizami's Haft Paykar (1197 AD). In 1302 AD, Khusro introduced, for the first time, the characters of the Three Princes of Serendip into the previous epic Persian tales.

Lal and Prasada provide their translation and annotated discussion of the Hasht Bihisht which describes the fictitious Three Princes of Serendip in the context of their meeting with the real, historical Bahram Gur.

THIS IS THE ONLY KNOWN DIRECT TO ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THIS SECTION OF Khusro's Hasht Bihisht.

Lal and Prasada include translations of many other works. A partial listing:
Selections from Gulistan
Selections from Shahjahan Nama
Selections from Nama-I-Khusrawan
Selections from Bostan
Selections from Sikandarnamah
Selections from Makhzan-I-Israr
Selections from Motashim Kashi
Selections from Hafiz
Selections from Rubaiyyat-I-Umar Khaiyyam (The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam)
Appendix A. Short Biographical Notices of Authors
Appendix D. Model Questions on the text book.
Appendix K. Persian and Arabic months.

Because this is a microfilm, I cannot accept returns after delivery. PLEASE CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS BEFORE PURCHASING.

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