MURAQQA-I-SHUARÃ ... [Album of Poets]

This Album of eminent Urdu poets is unique. It contains ten genuine portraits, in four colours, of Parwana Laknavi, Tasalli Lakhnavi, Hasrat Dehlavi, Zia Dehlavi, Fidvi Lahore, Qateel Faridabadi, Mus-hafi Amrohavi, Muztar Laknavi, Mazhar Jan-e-Jan Dehlavi, and Mir Taqi Mir. The Album is over a hundred years old and is attested by the accounts of the poets in the Album; the condition of the paper on which the portraits are painted and accounts written; the pigments, colours and ink used by the artist or artists; and the style of penmanship. The Album is prfepared in the old and approved traditional style of the Royal Albums produced in the times of Shah Jahan and later Mughal Emperors - the portrait of the poet, a short biographical account and a brief selection of his verse. The portraits are also works of art. There are Urdu verses of Qateel, which are a rarity.

This epoch-making book is published with a Foreword of Moulana Abul Kalam Azad, by the eminent scholar and foremost critic of Urdu Dr. Ram Babu Saksena, Member Sahitya Akademi India (National Academy of Letters); P.E.N. (England and India); Hindustani Academy; Author of A History of Urdu Literature; Tārīkh Adab-i-Urdu; European and Indo-European Poets of Urdu and Persian; Album of Urdu Poets and other works.