Iranian History and Zoroastrianism: A. V. Williams Jackson's Persia Past and Present, First Edition, 1906

A V. William Jackson Iran

First Edition

Jackson, A. V. Williams. Persia Past and Present: A Book of Travel and Research, 1906. First edition of the American scholar's account of his 1903 journey through Persia, combining firsthand observations of Zoroastrian religious communities with investigations of ancient Persian history, archaeology, language, and literature. Jackson (1862–1937), professor of Indo-Iranian languages at Columbia University and an authority on Zoroastrianism and the Avesta, traveled to Persia principally to meet Zoroastrians and examine the religious traditions and historical sites associated with their faith. His narrative follows a journey through Qajar Iran during the reign of Mozaffar al-Din Shah (1896–1907), recording religious practices, archaeological monuments, and conditions in Persian cities and provincial settlements. Published three years after his travels, the book preserves observations of Zoroastrian communities in Yazd and other regions shortly before the Persian Constitutional Revolution transformed the country's political institutions.
Jackson, A. V. Williams. Persia Past and Present: A Book of Travel and Research. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1906. First edition. One volume, 8vo, 471 pp., complete with all 136 illustrated plates, 220 photographic illustrations, and a large color folding map of Persia and Afghanistan at the rear. Original dark blue cloth binding with gilt pictorial decoration on the front cover, gilt lettering on the spine, and top edge gilt. Jackson's itinerary includes Tabriz, Lake Urmia, Hamadan, Isfahan, Persepolis, Shiraz, Yazd, Tehran, and Mazandaran. His chapters examine Zoroastrian religious customs in Yazd, ancient fire temples, the Behistun inscription, the ruins of Persepolis, and the tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae. The photographic illustrations and plates reproduce archaeological remains, religious sites, historical monuments, and contemporary Persian landscapes, while the folding map provides geographical context for his travels.
Jackson's investigations connected the study of ancient Iranian religious texts with surviving Zoroastrian practices in early twentieth-century Persia. His descriptions of the Zoroastrians of Yazd, their religious observances, and their historical relationship to pre-Islamic Persian traditions extend beyond conventional travel writing into the comparative study of religion and Iranian antiquity. His accounts of Achaemenid monuments and inscriptions also record the condition of major archaeological sites before extensive twentieth-century excavation and restoration. The original binding shows rubbing to the corners and edges, some cover soiling not affecting the gilt illustration, fraying at the spine ends, and cuts at the spine tail. Hinges have been repaired. Complete, with the illustrations and folding map present; overall in very good condition.

Item #14473

Price: $350.00