The book is the most extensive rendering into English couplets of the great epic Shah Namah in Persian language by the immortal poet, Fardusi.

The plan adopted has been that of taking the introduction, with a portion of the history of the earliest kings of Persia in the mythical and pre-historic ages, and following these with prose translations of the reigns of the best-known monarchs and with various celebrated episodes, such as that of the fight of the hero Rustam and his son Suhrab, and from those epochs down to that of Yazdagird, about A.H. 411 (A.D. 1020), during the period of the history of Persia spanning more than 3500 years. Between these there has been inserted an epitome of the history of the intervening periods in prose, so that the whole conveys a full impression of the entire poem.

The rendering into English couplets of the major TH portion of Fardúsi's great epic is a fitting culmination to Mr. Alexander Rogers' Oriental studies in the course of his long and strenuous career in India. All who know him will share a fervent hope that he may be spared to give his countrymen other examples of the Persian classics. But the SHAH NAMAH must necessarily remain his magnum opus. It is the work of several years, and the result of sixty years' study of Persian. Not only is it the fullest version yet produced in English form, but it is the most faithful in its adherence to the original. Mr. Rogers has not sought to impose his own individuality upon the work of another, after the manner of other Oriental scholars. He has been satisfied to interpret the thoughts, the expression, and the style of Fardúsi as closely as the exigencies of a foreign medium would permit. The crudities and obscurities of the poem, alike with its beauties, have been retained. It is necessary to appreciate this singleness of purpose in judging the work, for the tendency' is always to hold the translator responsible for the shortcomings of the origiral. Mr. Rogers might have gained more credit if he had e bellished, elucidated, and generally modernised the work, but he would not have given us Fardúsi.

**Contents and Sample Pages**