Pembroke Papers 5 (2006), 259-276 The Last Qajar Shahnama: The Shahnama-yi Bahaduri (1319-26/190 1-8) Ulrich Marzolph T he first complete edition ofthe Shahnama in print is the one published by Turner Macan in fourvolumes in Calcutta in 1829. Whilethis textwas printed in movable type, the vast majority of the subsequent editions of the Shahnama were printed by means oflithography. 1 Their exact number still remains unknown today. Starting with the Bombay edition of 1262/1846, probably some thirty lithographed Oriental editions of the Shahnama were published, most of them in Indian cities such as Bombay, Lucknow and Cawnpore. The first published in Iran - in fact the third lithographed edition ever prepared, after a second Bombay edition published in 1266/1849- was produced in 1265-7/1848-50. Referring to its calligrapher, Mustafa-Quli b. Muhammad Radi Sultan Kajuri, this edition is known as the Shahnama-yi Kajuri. 2 Following this, altogether five Iranian editions were prepared in the Qajar period. These editions in terms of their general characteristics fall into two distinct groups. The frrst comprises the first four editions, published in 1265-7/1848-50, 1275/1858, 1307/1889, and 1316/1898, two each in Tehran and Tabriz, respectively. The second group consists of the fifth and last Shahnama published in Qajar Iran, known by the of its sponsor, Husain-Pasha Khan Amir Bahadur, as the Shahnama-yi Bahaduri. This Shahnama differs from all other Persian editions in several regards. First, the Shahnama-yi Bahaduri is larger than any other previous edition of the Shahnama. Second, its illustrative programme is less voluminous than any of the previous editions, comprising altogether 40 (against the usual set of at least 57) illustrations related to the Shahnama's text. And third, its illustrations in terms ofboth content and style differ decisively from the previous editions. I have dealt with the first group of lithographed Iranian Shahnamas in my contribution to the First Shahnama Conference in Cambridge in 2001. 3 This presentation, then, is to introduce the Shahnama-yi Bahaduri in more detail. Sec Ulrich Marzolph, Narrative illustration in Persian lithographed books (Leiden, Boston & Köln, Brill, 2004), at 24, 261 ff. 2 Javad Safi-nizhad, "Shahnama-ha-yi chap-i sangi", Miras-ifarhangi 14 (1374/1995), 24-30. 3 Ulrich Marzolph, "lllustrated Persian Iithographie editions of the Shahname", Edebiyat 13/ii (2002), 177- 259