“Àmir-Àrsàlân-Ibn Màlàkshâh Roumi” a prose romance of the genre dāstānhā-ye ʿammīāna, “popular tales.” The story was composed by Mīrzā Moḥammad ʿAlī Naqīb-al-mamālek, the naqqāl-bāšī or chief storyteller of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah (r. 1264-1313/1848-96). According to D. ʿA. K. Moʿayyer-al-mamālek (Yaḡmā 8, 1334 Š./1955, pp. 554-56), Tūrān Āḡā Faḵr-al-dawla, daughter of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah, wrote down the story of Amir Arsalān, as the naqqāš-bāšī related it in the evenings to help the monarch fall asleep. The oldest manuscript is dated 1305/1887-88, which is close to the actual completion of the story (Amīr Arsalān, ed. Maḥǰūb, intro. p. 65) [ENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA].The book was first published in 1317 (1900) and 1318 (1901) by Soheili Khansari in the form of lithographs in seven hundred pages. In 1340 (1923), the book was reprinted in pocket format with an introduction by Dr. Mohammad Jafar Mahjoub. This new edition, published by Iran Open Publishing, is based on the original manuscript of 1317 by Seyed Hossein Hossein Al-Shohahani, and contains the complete original seven volumes, in the style of conventional writing during the Qajar period.
