Persian Collection at Penn

The Persian Collection of the Middle East Collection at Penn comprises approximately 7,000 monographs and serial titles with particular emphasis on language, literature, and history & political science. The majority of the collection is housed in the Van Pelt Library.

Of particular interest is the numerous works on the famous Sufi poet, Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, and his Masnavi. The library holds many editions of the original and its commentaries.

A good working collection of Persian materials is available on all aspects of Iranian history, culture and civilization. In 2005 the library began collecting newly-available Persian-language materials published in Afghanistan.

Rare serials titles, such as the newspaper Habl al-Matin, Kavah and others, can be found in the collection.