Father Krusinski, Procurator-General of the Jesuit Mission and intermediary between the Papacy and the Safavid court, resided in Isfahan and was thus an eyewitness to the siege of the city. His account of the conditions and events preceding and during the siege and the subsequent demise of the Safavids is unique. It also offers key insights into the workings of the late Safavid state and government as well as the functions of the royal harem. This set includes the translation of the Clodius edition undertaken at the behest of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Damat Ibrahim. Together, these scarce volumes provide a unique source of information on late Safavid Persia. With an introduction by leading contemporary scholar, Rudi Matthee, the set will be welcomed by academics, collectors and libraries.

Judas Thaddeus Krusinski (1675-1755) was a Polish Jesuit who spent eighteen years in Persia, from 1707 to 1725, serving as Procurator-General of the Jesuit Mission from 1720 onwards. He learned Persian and became well acquainted with the country and its people. He acted as intermediary between the Papacy and the Safavid court and also acted as court translator. Crucially he resided in Isfahan in 1722 and was thereby witness to the siege of the city by Afghan tribesmen and its subsequent fall. Rudi Matthee is Munroe Professor of Middle East History, University of Delaware, USA. A leading scholar on the Safavid period, his books include "The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran" (1999), "Portugal, the Persian Gulf and Safavid Persia" (2011) and most recently "Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan" (I.B.Tauris, 2012). He is co-author (with Willem Floor and Patrick Clawson) of "The Monetary History of Iran: From the Safavids to the Qajars" (I.B. Tauris, forthcoming).