''The Persian Encyclopedia'' ( fa, دایرةالمعارف فارسی;

Romanize Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

d as ''Dāyerat-ol-ma'āref-e Fārsi'') is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative

Encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

s written in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. It is a ''two-volume'' encyclopedia published as three ''physical'' volumes. The encyclopedia was based, in part, on the 1953, 1960, and 1968 editions of ''

The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University, the encycloped ...

''. It was initially published under the supervision of

Gholamhossein Mosaheb Gholamhossein Mosaheb (October 13, 1910 – 1979) was an Iranian mathematician and logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or o ...

, who started the project in 1955 in the Franklin Book Programs office in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. 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 ''Lām'') was published in 1978, ten years after the first volume. It was supervised by Reza Aghsa. The

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

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 Amir Kabir Publishers 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. The encyclopedia contains an introduction that explains in detail the principles and methods of work and how to use the encyclopedia. This encyclopedia has 43,000 entries, of which 23,000 are foreign entries, 11,000 are related to Iran and Islam, and the rest are reference entries. Foreign entries are generally translations and adaptations, but entries related to Iran are entirely authored. فانی، ک، «''دائرةالمعارف فارسی'': میراثی پایدار»، ''مهرنامه''، ش۱۶، ص۲۱۸ The three volumes were republished with minor changes by Amir Kabir Publishers in 2002 ().

References

External links

نخستین فرهنگ‌نامه‌ی نوین ایرانغلام‌حسین مصاحب: پدر فرهنگنامه‌نویسی نوین ایرانمقدمه‌ی مصاحب بر دایرةالمعارف فارسیپدیدآورندگان دایرةالمعارف فارسی
Persian encyclopedias Iranian culture Iranian books 20th-century encyclopedias {{encyclopedia-stub