The Persian Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
The encyclopedia was based, in part, on the 1953, 1960, and 1968 editions of The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Encyclopedia is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its important relationship with Columbia University, the encyclopedia underwent major revisions in 1950 and 1963; the current edition is...
. It was initially published under the supervision of Gholamhossein Mosaheb
Gholamhossein Mosaheb
Gholamhossein Mosahab , also written Mosaheb, Gholam-Hossein Mosahab was an Iranian mathematician who is said to be the father of the modern mathematics in Iran. He is also famous in non-mathematical society as the author of The Persian Encyclopedia, a Persian encyclopedia published in Iran...
, who started the project in 1955 in the Franklin Book Programs office in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
. Mosaheb left the project after the first volume (words starting with Alef to Seen) was published in 1966.
The second volume was actually published in two "parts", making the encyclopedia three physical volumes. The first part (Sheen to Lam) was published in 1978, ten years after the first volume. it was supervised by Reza Aghsa.
The Iranian revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
in 1979, the death of Mosaheb in the same year, and the takeover of the assets of the Franklin office in Tehran by the government delayed further publication.
The second part (Meem to Yeh) was published by Amirkabir
Amirkabir (publisher)
Amirkabir is a publisher based in Tehran, Iran, founded on November 19, 1949 by Abdorrahim "Taghi" Jafari. It is named after Mirza Taghi Khan Amirkabir, the famous Iranian consul....
in 1996, eighteen years after the first part of the volume, but not mentioning a new supervisor's name.
The encyclopedia total is 3385 three-column pages. Unfortunately, the number of entries in the encyclopedia is not mentioned.
The three volumes were republished with minor changes by Amirkabir in 2002 (ISBN 964-303-044-X).