This work examines the travel account of a German baroque author who journeyed in search of silk from Northern Germany, through Muscovy, to the court of Shah Safi in Isfahan. Olearius introduced Persian culture to the German-speaking public; his appraisal of Persian customs prepares the way for German Romanticism's infatuation with Persian poetry.

* Antique knotted-pile transport bags and other collectible small-format weavings, both utilitarian and decorative, made by the nomadic tribes of the Caucasus region and Iran * The best of the best in a widely collected area of textile arts The Michael and Amy Rothberg Collection of knotted-pile tribal and nomadic bags and other rare small format pile weavings, among them many pieces made for women's dowries and other ceremonial functions, is recognized as the best of its kind anywhere in the world. The collection has been carefully and thoughtfully assembled over the past four decades. Michael Rothberg's collections are above all distinguished by the collector's acutely sensitive and perceptive eye for the best museum-quality material available on the international market. Specialists in the field and other collectors and tribal weaving enthusiasts have awaited the publication of this part of the Rothberg Collection for many years, ever since a selection of the material was shown at Sotheby's in Los Angeles in a feature exhibition during the American Conference on Oriental Rugs in January 1996. The scope of the collection includes antique pile bags, from the Transcaucasus region, as well as from the Shahsavan, Kurdish, Varamin region, Qashqa'i, Khamseh, Luri, Bakhtiari, Afshar and Baluch tribes of Iran.

A superbly illustrated and handsomely crafted book of antique Persian textiles from the collection of James D. Burns.

The modern and contemporary art of Iran has often been understood, and positioned by commercial institutions, as decorative or ethnic--hence the focus on calligraphy and veiled women. While at a scholarly level it has been characterised as a comment on the socio-political context of the country: repressed inside Iran and, among artists in diaspora, as a focus for a complex identity discourse. Viewing Iranian art as neither a commodity, nor an illustration of theory, Fereshteh Daftari approaches the modern art of Iran as a democratic space where pluralism--a range of different styles and ideas--can thrive. This art historical exploration offers new insights into Iranian art, from the late 19th century Qajar period, via the Saqqakhaneh movement of the 1960s and into the contemporary world. In the process the author comments on the concept of modernism in a non-Western environment. She takes both a specific and a panoramic view of Iranian art to expose new themes like the subversive appropriation of traditional art, whilst also tackling more perennial issues like gender. With experience as an international curator, Daftari analyses the way Iranian artists have been represented outside the country and discusses the different routes by which modern Iranian art has been introduced to a Western audience, explaining the process by which Iranian art has developed and how it navigates between the individual and the political.

Humanism has mostly considered the question “What does it mean to be human?” from a Western perspective. Dabashi asks it anew from a non-European perspective, in a groundbreaking study of 1,400 years of Persian literary humanism. He presents the unfolding of this vast tradition as the creative and subversive subconscious of Islamic civilization.

A much-needed contribution to the expanding interest in the history of travel and travel writing, Voyages and Visions is the first attempt to sketch a cultural history of travel from the sixteenth century to the present day. The essays address the theme of travel as a historical, literary and imaginative process, focusing on significant episodes and encounters in world history. The contributors to this collection include historians of art and of science, anthropologists, literary critics and mainstream cultural historians. Their essays encompass a challenging range of subjects, including the explorations of South America, India and Mexico; mountaineering in the Himalayas; space travel; science fiction; and American post-war travel fiction. Voyages and Visions is truly interdisciplinary, and essential reading for anyone interested in travel writing. With essays by Kasia Boddy, Michael Bravo, Peter Burke, Melissa Calaresu, Jesus Maria Carillo Castillo, Peter Hansen, Edward James, Nigel Leask, Joan-Pau Rubies and Wes Williams.

In a bustling marketplace in Iran, a traditional storyteller regales her audience with the tale of Prince Zal and the Simorgh. High up on the Mountain of Gems lives the Simorgh, a wise phoenix whose flapping wings disperse the seeds of life across the world. When King Sam commands that his long-awaited newborn son Zal be abandoned because of his white hair, the Simorgh adopts the baby and raises him alongside her own chicks and teaches him everything she knows. But when the king comes to regret his actions, Prince Zal will learn that the most important lesson of all is forgiveness. In this special edition, the story has been set to music, with each instrument representing a different character. You can download music composed by Amir Eslami (ney), Nilufar Habibian (qanun), Saeid Kord Mafi (santur), and Arash Moradi (tanbur). The music accompanies Sally Pomme Clayton's stunning narration of this classic tale from the Shahnameh.