Persia - Michel Simonidy Abu l-Qasem-e Firdausi Histoire de Minoutchehr selon Le Livre des rois. With an original drawing, 49 pochoir plates on boards and in the text, as well as two extra suites with 49 plates each, totalling 147 plates by Michel Simonidy. Paris, Piazza, 1919. 184 p., 5 vols., hand-bound brown full marocco binding with gilt-stamped title, inner edges doublure and moiré silk endpapers, gilt-stamped standing and inner edges. Signed: Georges Mercier. In a lined slipcase. Carteret, IV, p. 156. Mahé, II, col. 45. Monod, 4612. - One of 25 copies of the special edition on Japan paper. Luxurious and wide-margined impression. The story of King Minushehr is the seventh chapter of the Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, written by the poet Firdousi around the year 387 AD. This famous epic poem, the first great work of Persian literature, is considered the highest national book in Iran, similar to the Illiad in Greece. The French translation by Jules Mohl (1838-1878), a member of the Institute and professor at the Collège de France, is the best translation produced since the 19th century. Splendid and luminous pochoirs, some with eroticised depictions, illustrate this impressive book of kings. Michel Simonidy (1870-1933) was a pupil of Léon Bonnat and Gabriel Ferrier in Paris and became known above all for his genre scenes and nudes. He received an honourable mention at the Exposition Universelle (1889). His "Death of Mithridates" also won a medal at the Salon, where he exhibited from 1908 to 1912. - Gilt edges. Perisa. - With an original drawing, 49 pochoir plates on plates and in the text, as well as two extra suites with 49 plates each, totalling 147 plates by Michel Simonidy. Hand-bound brown full marocco binding with gilt-stamped RTitle, inner edges doublure and moiré silk endpapers, gilt-stamped standing and inner edges. Signed: Georges Mercier. In slipcase. One of 25 copies of the special edition on Japan paper. Luxurious and wide-margined print. The story of King Minushehr is the seventh chapter of the Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, written by the poet Firdousi around the year 387 AD. This famous epic poem, the first great work of Persian literature, is considered the highest national book in Iran, similar to the Illiad in Greece. The French translation by Jules Mohl (1838-1878), a member of the Institute and professor at the Collège de France, is the best translation produced since the 19th century. Splendid and luminous pochoirs, some with eroticised depictions, illustrate this impressive book of kings. Michel Simonidy (1870-1933) was a pupil of Léon Bonnat and Gabriel Ferrier in Paris and became known above all for his genre scenes and nudes. He received an honourable mention at the Exposition Universelle (1889). His 'Death of Mithridates' also won a medal at the Salon, where he exhibited from 1908 to 1912. - Gilt edges.