The beauty and symbolism of gold, from the Early Bronze Age to the 20th century
QUEEN VICTORIA, QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM (1819-1901)
Zendigani-yi ma dar kuhistan زندگانی ما در کوهستان (Our Life in the Highlands)
1884-8521.8 x 15.9 cm (book measurement (conservation)) | RCIN 1005029
This is a Persian translation of Queen Victoria’s Our Life in the Highlands: More Leaves From the Journal of a Life in the Highlands, From 1862 To 1882.
In 1868, Queen Victoria caused a sensation when she published selected passages from her personal journals which described the royal family’s holidays in Scotland. Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands and its 1884 follow-up, More Leaves, became international best-sellers. The Queen’s book even reached a Persian readership. When she met the shah of Qajar Iran in 1873, Nasir al-Din Shah, he told Queen Victoria that he had read her book, having had it translated into Persian. When Queen Victoria published the second volume, she sent a copy to Tehran where Nasir al-Din Shah again ordered a court translator to render the work into Persian.
This manuscript was commissioned for presentation to the Queen by Robert Murdoch Smith, a Scotsman living in Persia whom the court translator asked for help with Scottish words and proper names. In a letter addressed to the Royal Librarian on 5 November 1885, Murdoch Smith wrote: ‘Thinking that the manuscript translation of this made for the Shah’s personal use might be of interest to her Majesty, I got a second copy written out and left it to be illuminated and bound with covers in imitation of those used in Persia some three or four hundred years ago. I have just received it from Teheran and take the liberty of sending it to you in the hope that you may kindly find the means of presenting it to Her Majesty without my appearing presumptuous or indiscreet’.
Binding description
The carved binding of this volume is signed by Razi Taleqani, one of the masters of the Majma-i Dar al-Sanaye, the School of Fine Arts in Tehran devoted to the revival of traditional Iranian arts and crafts during the Qajar period. He was better known as a painter and illuminator and it is likely that he executed the book’s illuminated frontispiece, which includes a large dedication in Persian to Queen Victoria.
The manuscript is contained within a silk bag with waxed lining and strings.
In 1868, Queen Victoria caused a sensation when she published selected passages from her personal journals which described the royal family’s holidays in Scotland. Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands and its 1884 follow-up, More Leaves, became international best-sellers. The Queen’s book even reached a Persian readership. When she met the shah of Qajar Iran in 1873, Nasir al-Din Shah, he told Queen Victoria that he had read her book, having had it translated into Persian. When Queen Victoria published the second volume, she sent a copy to Tehran where Nasir al-Din Shah again ordered a court translator to render the work into Persian.
This manuscript was commissioned for presentation to the Queen by Robert Murdoch Smith, a Scotsman living in Persia whom the court translator asked for help with Scottish words and proper names. In a letter addressed to the Royal Librarian on 5 November 1885, Murdoch Smith wrote: ‘Thinking that the manuscript translation of this made for the Shah’s personal use might be of interest to her Majesty, I got a second copy written out and left it to be illuminated and bound with covers in imitation of those used in Persia some three or four hundred years ago. I have just received it from Teheran and take the liberty of sending it to you in the hope that you may kindly find the means of presenting it to Her Majesty without my appearing presumptuous or indiscreet’.
Binding description
The carved binding of this volume is signed by Razi Taleqani, one of the masters of the Majma-i Dar al-Sanaye, the School of Fine Arts in Tehran devoted to the revival of traditional Iranian arts and crafts during the Qajar period. He was better known as a painter and illuminator and it is likely that he executed the book’s illuminated frontispiece, which includes a large dedication in Persian to Queen Victoria.
The manuscript is contained within a silk bag with waxed lining and strings.
