Selected Sonnets from the Divan of Hafez
This collection of sonnets by Persian poet Hafez was first translated to English by Gertrude Bell in 1892. In 1985, Eghbal Publications from Tehrān issued a bilingual edition. The cover is set in Arnold Böcklin, with non-standard diacritics.
The cover miniature and the illuminations are by Ustad Khosh-nevis-zadeh, with inside miniatures by Ali Nasajpor, and calligraphy by Hosain Khosravi. The typesetting is by Sandra Mooney. In the imprint, her first name is abbreviated (just like Bell’s), presumably to circumvent regulations against women in the Iranian labor force.
The frontispiece (I know this is not technically the frontispiece but it’s identical to it) introduces the beautiful calligraphy of Hosain Khosravi seen throughout the book. The Eqbal (elsewhere transliterated as Eghbal) logo strikes me as a hand drawing rather than type.
One of the great first pages. The contrast between the supremely serious text and the clunky futurism of Countdown is awe inspiring. The borders are by Ali Nasajpor.
The text is set in Letter Gothic with initials in a curious slab serif I was not able to identify.
