هفت قليم- Haft Iqlim: The Geographical and Biographical Encyclopaedia of Amin Ahmad Razi in Urdu (Volume-2, An Old and Rare Book)

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Three fascicles of the Haft Iqlim forming Volume one were published in the 'Bibliotheca Indica Series' in 1918, 1927 and 1939. All the three fascicles were jointly edited: the first (pages 1-112) by the late Sir E. Denison Ross and the late Khan Bahadur Maulavi 'Abdu'l- Muqtadir: the second (pages 113-208) by the late Mr. A. H. Harley and the late Khan Bahadur Maulavi 'Abdu'l-Muqtadir; and the third (pages 209-311) by the late Mr. A. H. Harley, the late Khan Bahadur Maulavi 'Abdu'l-Muqtadir and the late Khan Bahadur M. Mahfúzu'l- Haq. These three fascicles comprise the first two Iqlims and a portion of the third (up to the end of Shiraz).
In June 1958, the Council of the Asiatic Society entrusted me with the task of editing the present volume i.e. the remaining portion of the third Iqlim (pages 311-689). I deemed it a privilege to be associated with the work partly completed by the eminent scholars mentioned above.
In preparing the text I collated three manuscripts belonging to the Asiatic Society Nos. 282 and 283 of the Society Collection and No. 706 of Curzon Collection. Manuscript No. 282 consists of 373 folios and has been written in Indian Nasta'liq. It was transcribed in A.H. 1166/A.D. 1752-53 by Ghulam Nasiru'd-Din. Manuscript No. 283 was transcribed for H. Blochmann in A.H. 1288/A.D. 1871 by Muhammad Amjad. It comprises 657 folios and has been written in modern Indian nasta'liq. An index is appended to it. Manuscript No. 706 consists of 469 folios written in Indian nasta'liq. It was copied in the 13th century of the Hijra (A.D. 19th century). For further information about these manuscripts reference may be made to Concise Descriptive Catalogues of the Persian Manuscripts of the Asiatic Society by Wladimir Ivanow (1924 and 1926).
It may be noted that I have differed from the editors of the previous fascicles in placing the notes and variants. Instead of writing them in English and Persian and prefixing them to the text, I have written them in Persian and placed them at the foot of the corresponding pages.