Small folio. (375 x 288 mm), xxviii, 895 pp/ xi, 897–1807 pp, with a folding plate/ xi, 1809–2817 pp, with a folding map/ xiv, with plates numbered from 1–510 (six coloured)/ xii, with plates numbered from 511–980 (97 coloured)/ xii, with plates numbered from 981–1482 (92 coloured)/ Titles printed in blue and black, 1,482 half tone plates, illustrations, Original blue buckram cloth,gilt-lettered spines; spines starting to fade, fore-edge portions of cloth covers often sunned, spine of volume 3 vertically split but repaired, internally clean and in good condition, published under the auspices of the American Institute For Iranian Art and Archaeology, London: Oxford University Press, first edition, 1938-39.

Synopsis

FIRST EDITION. During the 1930s, the study of Iranian art and architecture was promoted intensively, and the widely held view that Iran had been the cultural centre of the Muslim world reached a climax. The pertinent events of the decade can hardly be understood without reference to Arthur Upham Pope (1881–1969) a pioneering American expert on Persian/Iranian art and a professor of philosophy and aesthetics, archaeologist, political activist, museum director, and founder of an international scholarly organization…. and Phyllis Ackerman – Pope and Ackerman (whom Pope eventually married) were able to persuade some of the greatest authorities of the day to contribute the various chapters, 69 scholars among them John Allan, Prof. Jurgi Baltrusaitis, Stanley Casson, Dr. G. Contenau, R.S. Cooke, Dr. Neilson C. Debevoise, Cecil H. Desch, Rene Doussaud, Dr. Richard Ettinghausen, C.J. Gadd, Rene Grousset, Prof. Ernst Herzfeld, Kurt Erdmann, Samuel Flury, André Godard, C. J. Lamm, Iosif Orbeli, Ernst Kühnel, Louis Massignon and Ugo Monneret de Villiard and others… Some contributors, such as Robert Byron (1905–41) and Eric Schroeder (1904–71), conducted researches in Iran in the 1930s, while others such as Ettinghausen did not make the journey. Not all of the contributors were full-time academics: Ralph Hariri (1892–1969), a merchant banker and art collector, wrote a chapter on metalwork’ (Stephen Vernoit, ed., Discovering Islamic art. Scholars, collectors and collections, 1850–1950 pp. 41–4). An index volume (not present here) was published in 1958.
Contents of each volume as follows:
1- Text, Pre-Achaemenid, Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods.
II- Text, Architecture, the Ceramic Arts, Calligraphy and Epigraphy.
III- Text, The Art of the Book, Textiles, Carpets, Metalwork, Minor Arts.
III- Plates 1-150 Pre-Achaemenid, Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian Period, Architecture of the Islamic Period.
V- Plates 511-980 Architectural Ornament, Pottery and Fiance, the Art of the Book.
VI- Plates 918-1482, Textiles, Carpets, Metalwork, Minor Arts.