A book of Persian state letters (the Insha-yi Harkaran) first published in Calcutta in 1781 as a textbook for teaching the art of Persian letter writing. It includes English translations and a Persian-English vocabulary.

The translator, Francis Balfour, was a Scottish physician employed by the East India Company from 1769-1807. A keen linguist and Orientalist, Balfour was one of the earliest members of the Bengal Asiatic Society, founded in 1784 under the patronage of Warren Hastings, to whom he dedicated this book.