Ghalib, His Life and Persian Poetry

Karachi: Allies Books Corp., [1956]. First Edition (presumed; no prior editions or printings cited). Narrow quarto with half cloth blue and beige boards, red and white pictorial jacket; viii, 294 pages: illustrations; bibliography; index; 28 cm Boards show edgewear and sunning; jacket is in very good (-) condition with slight tear to head of spine and mild edgewear; some foxing and prior owner ink stamp to endpapers; light toning to leaves; prior owner signature in ink on title page; else clean and tight; papers have "Government of Pakistan" watermark intermittently throughout. Hardcover.

Scarce. In Urdu and English. From the introduction by the author: "To me, Ghalib is pre-eminently the greatest poet of the last century, of whom the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent should be justly proud. In fact, he is the last of the great classical poets of the undivided India, his superiors and forerunners being Ab'ul Faraj Runi, Mad'ud-i-Sa'ad-i-salman, Amir Khusraw and Mulla Fayzi." --Pg. ii. The author covers the historial context, family and personal life and trajectory of the poet, as well as reception of his Urdu and Persian poetry, his travels, philosophical positions and friendships, ending with detailed explorations of schools of poetry and Ghalib's particularities and strengths within a given poetic tradition. Poems are printed in their original language and discussion/commentary is in English.