The Land of the Great Sophy

The Land of the Great Sophy is a travel guide to Iran, written in the early 1960s by Sir Roger Stevens, the British ambassador to Iran from 1954 to 1958).

The book is a divided into two parts: the first an account of the Iran and her peoples, with a survey of their history, philosophy, architecture, religions and arts; the second a description of places visited by Stevens.

It was, as Stevens, writes:

for (those) without any previous knowledge of Asia or background of Persian history and civilization. In the last century it might have been given the subtitle Old Things seen in Persia explained. It is no more than that; indeed, even that may be too broad a claim.

The book was updated and republished in 1979 just before the Islamic revolution and thus, unfortunately, rendered immediately out-of-date.

An excellent, beautiful map, only missing, perhaps, a title and the inclusion of a smaller map in a corner giving context, i.e. the relation of Persia to the Mediterranean. Other than that it is pretty much faultless.

Maureen Verity was responsible for the endpapers map. Verity was was in great demand, her maps and illustrations appear in many books, I suspect we’ll be hearing from her again. Unfortunately I was able to find nothing of about her life, which is a great shame.

• You can find the book on archive.org

• Warriors, Sufis, Princesses, Dervishes: The Complexities of Persian Culture - an excellent lecture by Dr Dick Davis.