Yussef E'tesami (; also known as E'tesam-al-Molk (), Mirza Yusuf E'tesami Ashtiani ()‎; 1874–1938), was an Iranian journalist, politician, publisher, translator, and writer. He was a member of the second

Majles (, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Mus ...

(from 1909 to 1912). His daughter was poet

Parvin E'tesami Rakhshandeh E'tesami (, ''Raḵšanda Eʿteṣāmī''; 17 March 1907 – 4 April 1941), better known as Parvin E'tesami (), was a 20th-century Iranian Persian language, Persian poet. Life Parvin E'tesami was born on 17 March 1907 in Tabriz to M ...

Biography

Yussef E'tesami was born in 1874. His father, Mīrzā Ebrāhīm Khan Mostawfī Eʿteṣām-al-Molk was from

Ashtian Ashtian () is a city in the Central District (Ashtian County), Central District of Ashtian County, Markazi province, Markazi province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Language and religion The peop ...

and the head of finance of the Iranian province of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. He was the elder brother of the architect and painter Abolhassan E'tesami, and the father of the poet

. In the 1890s, Yussef E'tesami established the first typographical printing house in

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

. He was a member of the Iranian Parliament or

in 1909–12, and founded the ''Bahar'' journal in 1910. At various junctures, he served in the Ministry of Education and headed the Royal and Majles Libraries. The ''Bahar'' journal was a sixty-four-page monthly published in two periods; from April 1910– October 1911 and from April 1921–December 1922. As noted in the first issue, the purpose of ''Bahar'' was “to provide a … forum for various significant topics of scientific, literary, ethical, historical, and artistic interest to people of understanding, and to acquaint the public with valuable information.” Most of the journal's material was written or translated by Yussef E'tesami, and a large part devoted to Western culture. To

Edward Granville Browne Edward Granville Browne FBA (7 February 1862 – 5 January 1926) was a British Iranologist. He published numerous articles and books, mainly in the areas of history and literature. Life Browne was born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, ...

(1928, 489) ''Bahar'' appeared "very modern and European in tone;" and in ''

Encyclopaedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

'', Heshmat Moayyad points out its "liberal and humanistic" orientation. In addition to his contributions to ''Bahar'', Yussef E'tesami's produced about forty volumes of translations, in particular some Persian translations of

Qasim Amin Qasim Amin (, ; 1 December 1863 – 12 April 1908)Political and diplomatic history of the Arab world, 1900-1967, Menahem Mansoor was an Egyptian jurist, Islamic Modernist and one of the founders of the Egyptian national movement and Cairo Uni ...

's ''Tahrir al-Mara'',

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's ''Les Misérables'', vol. 1, and

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's ''Kabale und Liebe''. He is the author also of a commentary in Arabic of Abolqassem

al-Zamakhshari Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari (; 1074 –1143) was a medieval Muslim scholar of Iranian descent. He travelled to Mecca and settled there for five years and has been known since then as 'Jar Allah' (God's Neighbor). He was a Mu'tazi ...

's ''Atwaq ad-Dahab'', a three-volume catalog of manuscripts in the Majles Library. He died on 2 January 1938 in Tehran.

References

Sources

* Browne, Edward G. 1928. ''A literary history of Persia'', vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar. 1977. Biographical note. In ''Poems of Parvin Etessami'', ed. Abolfath Etessami, p. 342. Tehran: Abolfath Etessami. * E'tesami, Abolhassan. 1958. Biographical note. ''Tehran University News Bulletin'' 374, pp. 34–7. {{DEFAULTSORT:Etesami, Yussef Iranian journalists Iranian publishers (people) Iranian translators 1874 births 1938 deaths People from Tabriz Iranian Esperantists Members of the 2nd Iranian Majlis Deputies of Tabriz for National Consultative Assembly Deputies of Tehran for National Consultative Assembly Members of the 3rd Iranian Majlis People of Qajar Iran Iranian magazine founders Burials at Fatima Masumeh Shrine