English: JA'FAR IBN ABI ISHAQ AL-KASHFI (D. 1850-1 AD): TUHFAT AL-MULUK FI AL-SAYR WA AL-SULUK

SIGNED MAWLA AL-HUSAYNI TAFRESHI (?), QAJAR IRAN, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

An early copy of this political treatise, a book of advice for the king, probably written during the lifetime of its author, Persian manuscript on paper, 183ff. plus two flyleaves, each folio with 25-29ll. of black nasta'liq or naskh, some words and phrases picked out in magenta, catchwords, with seventeen contemporaneous illustrations, some tables, colophon with date of Wednesday second tenth of Rajab and added date of AH 1244, duplicated introduction at beginning, in stamped brown morocco Folio 13¼ x 8in. (33.7 x 20.5cm.)

This author and work are recorded in Kashf al-zunun (Khalifa and Al-Baghdadi, 2008, vol.IV, cat.2780 and vol.VI. cat.1731). The Tuhfat al-muluk (The Gift to the Sovereigns) was composed in AH 1233/1817-18 AD for Shahzada Muhammad Taqi Mirza, one of Fath 'Ali Shah's sons.