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Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia (1831-96)

Visit of the Shah of Persia to Europe, 1873 [spine title] / روزنامه سفر فرنگستان 1873

RCIN 1197176

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  • The first edition of Nasir al-Din Shah's diary of his tour through Europe in 1873, published in Iran under the name Ruznamaj-i safari-i Farangistan.

    Nasir al-Din Shah was the first Persian ruler to visit Europe. He sent this presentation copy of his travelogue to Queen Victoria, whom he had visited during his travels and described at length in his narrative. A passage describing a visit to Windsor Castle mentions that the Queen showed him several illumiated Indian manuscripts in the Royal Library.

    The British Foreign Office subsequently commissioned Sir James Redhouse, a renowned British linguist, to translate the Shah's diary into English, which was published in 1874 (RCIN 1142878) and specially bound copies of this were prepared for the Queen, the Shah and the Prince of Wales.