Letter from Dr. Mojtaba Minovi in the year 1334

The first volume of the book “On the Shores of Literature,” compiled by Iraj Afshar and published by the Dr. Mahmoud Afshar Yazdi Endowment Foundation, contains a letter from the late Mojtaba Minovi written in 1334 (1955) in Ankara. This letter provides valuable insights into the scholarly conditions of that time.

Part of the letter reads: “I spent about forty days in Istanbul, and during this time, I managed to photograph about fifteen thousand pages of manuscripts and also obtained a film of the illustrated manuscript of ‘Kalila and Dimna’ from the Topkapi Palace library. After arriving in Ankara, I have been continuously engaged in work, which includes: 1- Printing the book ‘Sīrat-i Jalāl al-Dīn Mīnkburnī.’ I had brought the prepared manuscript from Tehran and handed it over to the Turkish Historical Society for printing. So far, one hundred and eighty-four pages have been printed. 2- Writing an introduction to the ‘Tafsir’ of the Quran from Surah Maryam to the end, of which I have a manuscript. The late Forouzanfar also published a portion of it. So far, eighty pages of the introduction have been written. 3- Reviewing the first volume of the ‘Dīvān-i Shams’ edited by Forouzanfar, and collating it with the manuscripts in Konya…”

Mojtaba Minovi was a prominent Iranian historian, writer, and translator. He was one of the most distinguished scholars of literature, culture, and the history of Iran. He passed away in 1355 (1977).