The Mulfuzat Timury, or Authobiographical Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timur,

£3,750 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

The first Western translation of the Malfuzat-i Timuri , allegedly Timur's own autobiography and one of the few primary sources of his reign alongside the Zafarnama, now commonly thought to be a later account written by the Mughal scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni for Timur's descendant Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666) in 1637/8. Abu Taleb claimed to have found a manuscript copy in Chagatai in the library of a Yemeni ruler. No such copy is extant today, and modern historians commonly agree that his account was based on a version of the Zafarnama, but that did not prevent it becoming a highly popular account in Mughal India and this English translation added to Western appreciation of Timur and his reign following the first translation into English of the Zafarnama a century prior. Charles Stewart (1764-1837) was an important translator of Indian and Central Asian works, returning from Bengal in 1808 to become professor of Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani in the East India College at Haileybury. He also translated the biography of Emperor Humayun as well as several Persian and Arabic literary texts. First edition; 4to (31.5 x 25.5 cm); map as frontispiece, a little foxed; publisher's original green cloth, gilt lettering to spine, all edges speckled red, a fine copy; xvi, 154, 11, [1], 22 pp.

• Binding: Hardcover

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