“The Shahnameh has been written with penmanship of Nasta’liq and decorated with illuminations in the manuscript’s margins,” said Abdullah Yunusov.
Dating back to about 494 years ago, it is probably the oldest handwritten Shahnameh available in the world, he added.
He asked officials of world’s libraries to inform the library if they had a more ancient Shahnameh.
According to Yunusov, there is no evidence about the name of the writer or the place it has been written.
“The rich sources of Ferdowsi Library have propelled it into the limelight among Tajik and foreign scholars, researchers, and students,” Yunusov said.
A total of 2200 manuscripts are kept at Ferdowsi Library established approximately 70 years ago. It is one of the richest libraries in Central Asia.
The library holds the oldest handwritten versions of Sa’di’s Bustan and Gulistan, Tabari’s History, and Divan of Abd al-Rahman Jami. History, literature, and science are the general subjects of books kept in the library. It also contains several manuscripts in Azeri.
The library also has 30,000 books on different subjects in Persian, Arabic, English, Russian, and Uzbek.
MMS/SRM
END
MNA