South Asian Persian Title Pages and Book Arts
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Muniri. Muktubat-i javabi-yi Hazrat Sharaf al-Din. 1910.	Khajundi. Mukhtasar-i Wigayah. 1901.	Fayzi. Gita'i-yi manzum-i Farsi. [n.d.?]	Ashrafi. al-Hidayah al-Hamidiyah. 1902.
[Ramayana] Vazifah-i fayz : yani Ramayan-i Farsi. 1893.	Sa`di. Karima mu`arrab. 1886.	Page from Karima mu`arrab.	Page from Mahbub `Ali. Mustalahat al-shu`ara'. 1863.
Muhamad Firuz al-Din. Lughat-i Firuzi. 1898.	Abu al-Hasan. Risalah-i qavaid-i Farsi. 1890.	Umdat al-bizaah fi masail al-rizaah. 1886.	`Aja'ib al-makhluqat. 1912.
Page from `Aja'ib al-makhluqat.	Page from `Aja'ib al-makhluqat.

The Library is arranging to purchase a collection of 625 extremely rare early lithographed books published in India. They cover a broad spectrum of topics, including natural science, Islamic jurisprudence, Sufi religious texts, and translations into Persian of Sanskrit classics. All are written in the Persian language, which until 1835 was the East India Company's official language of administration in that region. Literary production in Persian continued to flourish throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth.

Obtaining the collection is a windfall for the Library. Less than one-third of the titles are held by any major European library and virtually none are currently held in the United States. The appointment of Prof. Muzaffar Alam to the University's faculty two years ago and the expected appointment of another specialist in Indian Persian make this collection of volumes still more important for Chicago.

The books have additional value as objects of art and examples of book production, as the beautiful designs that appear in some of the accompanying illustrations reveal.

The Library made a commitment to the seller to acquire the entire collection, with a three-year window to pay for them all. An excellent average price of $100 per volume has been negotiated, so the Library now asks its friends to support the effort to acquire these remarkable volumes. Each gift or multiple of $100 will get us closer to obtaining the entire corpus and will be recognized with a book plate.