The marbled decorative borders of this manuscript are unusual. The only other known manuscript to include similar borders is a translation of Tarikh’i Iskandar (The History of Alexander the Great) that was copied by Ibn Muhammad Khan Safdar ‘Ali in Kabul on Monday 8th Rabi’ II 1291 AH (25th May 1874 AD). A reference to the Voltaire translation is given in the preface to the Tarikh’i Iskandar: ‘Ibn Muhammad Khan Safdar ‘Ali is to produce this text as well as the History of Peter the Great’, confirming that the two volumes were made in this style at the bequest of the same patron. The Tarikh’i Iskandar was produced in Kabul, Afghanistan while this manuscript was produced in Iran, suggesting that their shared patron was a Qajar figure significant enough to travel with a large enough retinue to include a calligrapher.

The text is largely written in the secretarial hand of Samuel Villaume. Voltaire has added corrections throughout.

The MS is bound with three other texts by Voltaire which once formed part of the Boissy d’Anglas album. These texts are:

• (a) a letter in verse to Algarotti and a letter to the comte d’Argental
• (b) Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne
• (c) Bababec et les fakirs / Lettre d’un Turc.

The MS is bound with three other texts by Voltaire which once formed part of the Boissy d’Anglas album. These texts are:

• (a) a letter in verse to Algarotti and a letter to the comte d’Argental
• (b) Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne
• (d) Résumé historique et critique.

The verses are found in a historical miscellany. A second hand has added a note to the text stating that the true author of the verses is Ernst Christoph von Manteuffel.

The title is written in Voltaire’s hand.

The title is written in Voltaire’s hand.

(cf. t. IV, fol. 14)