DAWLAT SHÂH, Tadhkirat ul-Shu'ara (Memorial of the Poets), Iran, 17th century Manuscript on paper with 15 lines of text per page in Persian nasta'liq in black ink, some terms and characters in red ink, introduced by a rectangular frontispiece painted later with gilded flowers on a red background. Bound in brown morocco with embossed decoration of a poly-lobed mandorla flanked by two floral appendages, all three trimmed with floral decoration. Several stamps. 24.4 x 17 cm Restorations, later frontispiece and gilding of binding, wetness, foxing, wear. Provenance : Sotheby's sale, London, June 18, 1923, lot 104. The Tadhkirat ul-Shu'ara is a biographical directory of 152 Persian poets, written by the Timurid historian Dawlat Shah Samarkandi in 1487. It is a reference work for knowledge of cultural life in Iran and Transoxiana during the Timurid period.