Read · A first look

The Illuminated Edition

A preview of the edition we are making: the whole Shahnameh in our rhyming English couplets, set in illuminated borders, with pictures of the poem’s world made as if it were history and someone had photographed it — its heroes and kings, its places, and the objects that survive. These seven spreads are from Rostam and Sohrab.

Three volumes12 × 17 inches, each in its own slipcase, with a Study Guide of notes and appendices, in a black-and-gold case.
The poem is historyEvery picture is a digital reconstruction of the poem’s world, made to look as if a photographer had been there: its people, places and objects as they would have been.
Read as you lookEvery couplet of the poem, two columns to a page, with each picture captioned by the couplet it shows. Click a spread to see it full size.

Spread 1 of the Illuminated Edition: Opening — **1. Opening**Rostam and Sohrab opens across two pages on Takht-e Rostam at Samangan, with the first couplets of the tale.

Spread 2 of the Illuminated Edition: Tahmineh Seeks Out Rostam — **2. Tahmineh Seeks Out Rostam**Tahmineh comes to Rostam by night; facing her verses, a Sasanian seal-stone — the kind of mohreh he gives her for their child.

Spread 3 of the Illuminated Edition: Sohrab and Gordafarid — **3. Sohrab and Gordafarid**Sohrab unhelms the warrior-woman of the White Fortress, and follows her to its gate.

Spread 4 of the Illuminated Edition: The Fatal Convergence — **4. The Fatal Convergence**The story map of the two marches, facing the first clash of father and son.

Spread 5 of the Illuminated Edition: Sohrab Casts Rostam Down — **5. Sohrab Casts Rostam Down**Peace offered at dawn and refused; then Sohrab’s water-blue khanjar raised over Rostam.

Spread 6 of the Illuminated Edition: The Tragedy of Sohrab — **6. The Tragedy of Sohrab**The wrestle at dusk, and Rostam finding the token on his son’s arm.

Spread 7 of the Illuminated Edition: Rostam’s Lament — **7. Rostam’s Lament**The royal pavilion given to the fire, and Tahmineh with Sohrab’s horse.

A work in progress: the borders, maps and pictures will change before print. The whole poem is free to read on the Poem, and the woodcut panels on the Illustrated Poem. See all our books.