SAADI SHIRAZI, Abu-Muhammad Muslih al-Din bin Abdallah Shirazi (ca 1200-1292).
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT.
[Qajar?: Jihra 1244 (AD 1829).]

1st Edition. Octavo (9 3/8" x 5 11/16", 238mm x 144mm). 344 leaves. Text in two columns with a peripheral column running around three sides (top, bottom, fore), inset with triangular panels at the fore-edge, and occasionally with rhomboid panel, and terminating in a triangular panel at the upper and lower spine-edges. Each column outlined gilt, all within a thick gilt border within a blue border, within a gilt border around each opening. With forty-two filled cartouches, mostly gilt, some gilt and pigment; two are elaborate half-page vignettes. Bound in in contemporary Qajar lacquered boards (matching). On the exterior, a floral vignette against a gilt background within a geometric border within a floral border. On the interior, a central motif of narcissus set against a red background, within a geometric border. Rebacked with black morocco. Rebacked with morocco. Wear to the fore-corners. Binding mostly detached from the text-block. Two final text leaves torn at center. Scattered repairs. One leaf detached. Altogether a good copy.

An older auction description laid in at the front of the volume identifies this volume as a Diwan (poetic anthology) of the thirteenth-century author Saadi Shirazi (Abu-Muhammad Muslih al-Din bin Abdallah Shirazi). Saadi is best known for his poem Bustan (The Orchard) and prose Gulistan (The Rose Garden). This makes the lovely floral boards germane to the text.