that the peculiar Persian art of illuminating manuscripts which was yet
unknown according to Masudi in his own time,--the embellishing of books
with gold, silver, and copper dust was practised by the Manichians whose
calligraphy[2] delighted the Musalman authors and whose style of
illustrating manuscripts must have been fashioned after the art
displayed in those books which in the tenth century were preserved in
the castle of Shiz[3] and which at an earlier period were widely
desseminated among the Parsi circles.

[Footnote 1: Connected with ancient tradition, but dependant upon modern
science, are the portraits of the Sasanian kings in the recently
published _Nameh Khusrawan_, Tehran 1285, (A.D. 1868).]

[Footnote 2: In connection with the art of the Persian calligraphist and
illustrative of the Sasanian epoch stand the indications of the ancient
Moslem writers regarding the Avesta, which is reported to have been
inscribed by Zoroaster in gold ink on parchment and also writings in
gold ink of certain ancient Persian books. According to the _Zafar
Nameh_, Anushirwan directed that the maxims of Buzurjamihr should be
written down in golden water,--(ba-abizar). From early Sasanians also
comes the custom of writing on valuable parchment or paper. Masudi
speaks of the purple ink of these books.]

[Footnote 3: See Browne, "A Literary History", I, 165-166.]

Now we revert to the supposition of Gutschmid. Had he known the
quotations from the _Book of Taj_ in _Uyunal Akhbar_ he would have
adduced them in confirmation of his hypothesis, and he would have
compared the book mentioned by Masudi with the _Book of Taj_ referred to
among the Persian books enumerated in the Fihrist. On the basis of the