Summon Up Remembrance

By Marzieh Gail.
Oxford George Ronald 1987 .
295 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : 19 illustrations ; 24 cm , The fascinating story of a pleasure-seeking Persian boy who became one of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's leading English translators and united East and West in the first Persian-American Bahá'í marriage. Here is the colourful story of Ali-Kuli Khan, the first to translate into English such important works as the 'Seven Valleys', the 'Kitáb-i-Íqán', and the Glad-Tidings. Told by his daughter, herself a well-known author and translator, Khan's story is based on his memoirs and personal papers. Through them we are given a unique and detailed picture of life in Persia at the end of the century, complete with an explanation of that oft-met protocol 'ta'áruf'. We follow the young Khan, dressed as a dervish, on his adventurous walk to 'Akká and note his transformation from a frivolous youth to a skilled translator for 'Abdu'l-Bahá. In his nearly two years as a member of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's household, Khan both translated for those first groups of American pilgrims to visit the Holy Land and rendered 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets into English. In 1901 Khan was sent to America to assist Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl and to translate the great teacher's book, The Bahá'í Proofs, into English. It was in America that Khan met and fell in love with a Boston society girl, Florence Breed. Their Victorian romance unfolds in the delicate love-letters written by Florence to Khan. Their marriage, the first between a Persian and an American Bahá'í, not only symbolized but portrayed the unity between East and West taught by the Bahá'í Faith. 'Summon Up Remembrance' is peopled with such familiar figures as Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl, Laura Barney, Edward and Lua Getsinger, Mary Hanford Ford and the Atábak. But this is a book dedicated to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and it is His wisdom and teaching that characterizes it. A unique feature is the inclusion of the Tablet of Cremation revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, here published for the first time in English in a new translation by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice. The story continues in Arches of the Years. 0-85398-259-9

Arches of the Years

By Marzieh Gail.
Oxford George Ronald 1991 .
vii, 339 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm , Continuing the vivid story of Ali-Kuli Khan's diplomatic career, Marzieh Gail takes her readers on the family's travels from Tehran to Washington and San Francisco, to Paris, Istanbul and Tiflis and back to Persia. The story provides new insights into 'Abdu'l-Bahá 's visit to America and the early days of the Bahá'í Faith there and gives an unusual perspective on the Versailles Conference of 1919. Vignettes of President Wilson, Phoebe Hearts and other characters from the early days of this century are interspersed among fascinating pictures of Persia at the turn of the century. Drawn from the papers of her father and the diaries and letters of her mother, Marzieh Gail's Arches of the Years is more than a mere sequel to Summon Up Remembrance. A new character enters the picture - Marzieh herself, who as a child accompanied her parents to their various posts. Thus this new book is as much Marzieh's own story as it is the story of her parents. The author's wit and perception are already apparent in the child Marzieh, resulting in a story that is both moving and funny, and sometimes tragic. Marzieh's memories of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, and her final tribute to him, are among the most sensitively drawn passages in a lifetime of distinguished writing. 9780853983255, 9780853983262, 0853983259, 0853983267

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Summon Up Remembrance

Arches of the Years