ZIYA AL-DIN NAKSHABI (الدین نخچاب زای) (d.1350)

Persia, Date Unknown. MS 042

Ziya al-Din Nakhshabi was a fourteenth century Persian, Sufi poet who translated Indian literature into Persian. His most famous work is the Tuti-Nameh, or the Tales of a Parrot. Nakshabi compiled the stories in 1329-30 from an earlier Indian compilation called Gems of Nocturnal Conversations. The Tuti-Nameh is an anthology of fifty two short stories told by a parrot to its mistress over fifty two successive nights. The parrot tells these stories in order to prevent her from meeting with a lover while her husband is away.

While the more famous editions of these fables are lavishly illuminated in a traditional fifteenth-century Indian style, our edition solely includes the text. This manuscript arrived in the UO collection through Edward Burgess who purchased it the extensive personal library of the notable Bibliographer of the New York Public Library, Wilberforce Eames (1850-1937).

Bibliography

Beach, Milo. Mughal and Rajput Painting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Cleveland Museum of Art. “Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama.)” https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.279.96.b

Nakshabi, Ziya al-Din. Tuti-Nameh. Persia, date unknown. University of Oregon Special Collection & University Archives, MS 042. https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/3uoa1r/CP71269187760001451

Nakshabi, Ziya al-Din, trans. Gladwin, Francis, and Muhammad Khudavand, Kadiri. Tuti-namah. The Tooti nameh, or Tales of a Parrot: In the Persian Language with an English Translation. London: J. Debrett, 1801.