MELA Notes

In this article we scrutinize the process of founding of one of the prominent manuscript libraries in the Middle East, the Sipahsālār library in Tehran, in particular the circumstances of the creation of an endowment (waqf) for it, and the purchase of a massive private library of the Qajar prince Iʿtiżād al-Salṭana, by the waqf of the library. We will also discuss efforts to catalogue and organize the collections housed in the library, as it continued to grow. To draw a rudimentary picture of the make up of the collection and the special material it holds, we briefly introduce 25 manuscripts in the libray, categorized into different groups, to highlight certain features of the princely collection.