Textual Studies in Iran: A Report

Abstract

Translator’s note: The Written Heritage Research and Publication Center (WHRPC) was established in January 1995 under the auspices of the Office of the Deputy Minister for Cultural Activities at the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance in Iran. It was given the task of researching and publishing important texts of Iranian and Islamic civilizations. The Center concentrates on the editing of texts that have not yet been published, those whose existing editions may be improved by more attentive editorial efforts, and Persian and Arabic works for which better manuscripts have been discovered since the preparation of their original editions. The center’s areas of concentration are: Persian and Arabic literatures, History, Geography, Islamic Sciences, and the Tranoxianian Heritage. Since 2004 this center has increased its cooperation with international organizations that share its goals and interests. More about this institution may be found at its website at: http://www.mirasmaktoob.ir. What follows is a brief description of the activities of the WHRPC in the fields of textual studies and codicology, as presented by Dr. Akbar Irani, the director of WHRPC, in a lecture that he delivered in August of 2007 in the third conference of the Society of Islamic Manuscripts in Cambridge, England. I have taken few liberties with the text in order to transform the narrative from a talk to a report.