A History of Persia

Abstract

LORD CURZON'S classic work on Persia, published in 1892, went out-of-print a few years later, and was never reprinted. Sir Percy Sykes made his debut in Persia in the following year, and but for interludes in South Africa and Turkestan was, until December 1918, on duty in that country as a consular official, representing His Majesty's Government and the Government of India. He has travelled very extensively, and to good purpose: he has written four other books on various aspects of life and manners in Persia, and is unquestionably the leading authority in Britain on the matters dealt with in the present work. That he should have found time, in the midst of his travels and official labours, to compile this history (the first edition was published in 1915) is a tribute to his versatility and to his pertinacious industry, for to write a standard historical work in a consulate in a remote provincial town on the borders of Central Asia is a task at which few men would persevere. That a third edition should be called for within fifteen years is a tribute to the widespread interest displayed by the English-speaking world in Oriental history.

A History of Persia.

Brig.-General Sir Percy Sykes. Third edition with Supplementary Essays. Vol. 1. Pp. xxxix + 563 + 15 plates. Vol. 2. Pp. xx + 616 + 16 plates. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1930.) 2 vols., 42s. net.