Description

A fine example of a rare translation of the Bible into modern Persian language was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The text is based on the translation of the Bible to Persian from Hebrew by William Glen and Mirza Mohammad Jafar Shiraz, published in 1846.

In 1895, after two decades of hard work, Robert Bruce’s revised and corrected text in order to approach it to modern Persian. The Old Testament was almost entirely a new translation and the New Testament was heavily revised.

The Bible was sold by already translated chapters before its publication in 1895 and the contemporary advertisement describes the news publication with the following words:

The version of the Bible for which Dr. Robert Bruce got his commission from the late Rev. H. Venn in 1871, and on which he worked almost incessantly for over twenty years, is now published, and in the hands of the people; and it is interesting to note, that this great achievement has been recognized at Oxford, from which Sr. Bruce has received the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

(A year of Bible Work. The Ninety-First Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1895, p. 422)

We could find approximately six institutional example on Worldcat. Other examples appear to be electronic copies or later reprints.

References: OCLC 73491361; Roberto Gulbenkian, Nouvelle Revue de science missionnaire. The Translation of the Four Gospels Into Persian, 1981, p. 77.