Editions

=Selected Editions of the Persian Text=


 * Lumsden, M. and Maulvi Ilah-Dad, eds**. The Shah namu, being a series of heroic poems on the ancient history of Persia, from the earliest times down to the subjugation of the Persian empire by its Mohummudan conquerors, under the reign of King Yuzdjird. vol. 1 (Calcutta, printed by T. Watley, 1811). No more volumes after the first were ever published.


 * Mohl, Jules and Barbier der Maynard**. Le livre des rois, par Abou'lkasim Firdousi, publié, traduit et commenté par Jules Mohl [et Barbier der Meynard], 7 vols. Collection orientale, manuscrits inédits de la Bibliothèque royale traduits et publiés par ordre du roi (Paris, Impr. royale, 1838-1878. Vols. 4-6 published by the Impr. impériale; v. 7 by the Impr. nationale). Persian text with French translation on opposite pages. This was the text of record for the Warner brothers' translation and the Beroukhim edition published in Tehran.


 * Dabīr Siyāqī, Muḥammad**. Shāhnāma-ye Hakim Abu al-Qāsem Ferdowsi (Tehran: Ketabforushi-ye Haaj Mohammad-`Ali `Elmi, 1335 / 1956)


 * Bertels, A. E**. Shax-nāme: Kriticheskij Tekst. 9 volumes (Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Nauka, 1960–71). The "Moscow" edition of the Shahnameh.


 * Khāliqī Muṭlaq, Jalāl**. Shāhnāmah, Abū al-Qāsim Firdawsī, ed. Jalāl Khāliqī Muṭlaq; bā muqaddimah-ʾi Iḥsān Yār Shāṭir. 8 vols. (New York: Bibliotheca Persica, 1987-2008). Four additional volumes of notes were published to accompany the text. Dr. Khaleghi-Motlagh's 8 volume critical edition of the Shâhnâmeh, with an additional 4 volumes of explanatory notes is not only a monumental editorial achievement but an indispensable tool for scholars working on all things Ferdowsi. To begin with, Khaleghi-Motlagh’s edition not only contains his edition of the Shahnameh, based on his meticulous study of all relevant manuscripts, but also those passages, lines and/or words that he chose to excise or alter, which can be found in still other editions. This gives the scholar easy access to most manuscript variants, allowing him/her to to not just compare different versions of the text but to also perhaps produce a version of the text that doesn’t yet exist in any edition. Just as impressive are the extensive explanatory notes which also include a mini concordance/dictionary in the back of each volume except the first. The notes explain editorial choices, offer relavent historical/cultural background and information, including the etymology of certain words and/or how they might have been used during Ferdowsi’s time; they occasionally also provide character or plot analysis and, most important of all, the notes take the reader through the process of interpreting difficult passages where multiple readings are possible. All this is not to say that Khaleghi-Motlagh’s edition does not have its shortcomings. For the lay reader, who is nonetheless familiar with Ferdowsi’s memorable stories, this edition, not withstanding its size and exorbitant cost, might occasionally also border on the sacrilegious, due to Khaleghi-Motlagh’s merciless and sometimes unconventional editorial decisions. To give an example, in the story of Rostam and Sohrab the character of Hojir, who famously sacrifices himself in order to save Iran from the Turks, is inexplicably not killed (or is left alive) by Sohrab. This little detail inevitably has an effect, on not only how we perceive Hojir’s “martyrdom,” but also how we perceive the character of Sohrab. Meanwhile, in the beginning of the same story Khaleghi-Motlagh correctly chooses to excise some eight lines from Ferdowsi’s enigmatically powerful, thought provoking, opening that seem to have been added by subsequent scribes in an attempt to contain or diminish the subversive force of Ferdowsi’s searching text. All this to say, Khaleghi-Motlagh’s edition of the Shâhnâmeh will be the standard for years to come.


 * Jayḥūnī, Muṣṭafá**. Shāhnāmah-ʾi Firdawsī: taṣḥiḥ-i intiqādī, muqaddamah-ʾi taḥlīlī, nuktahʹhā-yi nawyāftah. Iṣfahān : Gurūh-i Intishārāt-i Shāhnāmahṕizhūhī, 2001. 5 v. (2229 p.) ; 24 cm. Does not have critical apparatus, not quite following the Mutlaq and Moscow editions.

Shāhnāmah, Ḥakīm Abū al-Qāsim Firdawsī. (Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 2537 [1978]. 4 v. in 1 (615 p.).

    