Costs of the production of the MS of the Hezār o Yek shab [One thousand and One Nights] based on a draft in an album kept at a royal production workshop [boyutāt]

The manuscript of the One Thousand and One Nights is one of the most important Iranian illustrated MSS which was commissioned by the Qājārid Naser al-Din Shah to be prepared at the Royal book-making workshop. This manuscript is of immense significance not only from the viewpoint of its text but also with respect to the number of its paintings and visual features. However, only a few sources have addressed the way this manuscript took form. Regarding the details of how the makers of this MS were paid, two documents have so far been found, the first being the contract made between Mo’ayyer al-Mamālek and Sani’ al-Molk); the second document is a Divāni money draft preserved in a boyutāt album, which is dealt with in this article. The latter document prepared after the completion of the copying, administration of paintings, illuminating, and gilding of the MS, shows details about the wages paid for each of the works done and the manner of payments from the treasury every year. A comparison between these two documents, one of which was prepared at the start of making the manuscript and the second at the end, will reveal certain information concerning the changes occurring in the payments during the eight years spent on the preparation of the manuscript.