179 - [Iran]. MELIK SCHAHNAZAR, Mir Davud Zadour de. LANGLES. CHAHAN DE CIRBIED, J.-M.

[Iran]. MELIK SCHAHNAZAR, Mir Davud Zadour de. LANGLES. CHAHAN DE CIRBIED, J.-M. Reports on the Current State of Persia, in Persian, Armenian, and French. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, published by Nepveu, 1818. In-32, (4) leaves, including frontispiece and engraved title page, 360 pp. Aubergine half-maroquin with raised spine, gilt title (spine faded, corner missing on pp. 143–4, one leaf browned, and some foxing). First edition of this rare work on Persia. A trilingual edition printed in Persian, with Armenian and French translations by Chahan de Cirbied (professor of Armenian at the Royal School of Oriental Languages) based on the account by Mîr Dâvoud Zâdour of Melik Schahnazar regarding his country and a historical note on the general state of Persia by Langlés, curator of Oriental manuscripts at the Royal Library. With two title pages: the first, engraved, adorned with a hand-colored vignette depicting the medal of the Order of the Sun and the Lion (of which the Armenian-Persian author was a knight) and dated 1817 by Nepveu; the second, printed and dated 1818. A fine copy with generous margins. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait and a plate, both lithographed and finely hand-colored, depicting full-length portraits of Mîr Dâvoud Zâdour and Khatchadour d’Hovhannès, an officer of the Prince of Persia. Mîr Dâvoud Zâdour de Melik Schahnazar (sometimes spelled Mir Davoud-Zadour de Melik-Chah Nazar) was a diplomat and official envoy of the King of Persia, the Shah of the Qajar dynasty, in Europe in the early 19th century, who came to France in 1816. Antique label from the Parisian bookseller E. Nourry. Chadenat, I, 2411.