Widely regarded in his lifetime as the greatest living authority on all things Iranian, across an enormous range of disciplines, Albert Houtum Schindler lived and worked in Iran from 1868 to 1911. All who either met or corresponded with him came away praising his encyclopaedic knowledge and remarkable insight.
A member of numerous learned societies in Europe, he sustained a wide web of intellectual contacts and was insatiably curious. As an employee of the Indo-European Telegraph Department, the Imperial Bank of Persia and the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation, he experienced firsthand the ups and downs of Iran’s slow but inexorable movement towards modernity. Yet when he died in 1916 his obituaries were frustratingly brief. Private when it came to the details of his personal life, Albert Houtum Schindler gave little away.
This book is the first full-scale examination of the life and legacy of an extraordinary witness to the late-Qajar period and the land, people and history of Iran.
Reviews
“General Houtum-Schindler . . . possesses probably more knowledge about the geography, ethnology, and local dialects of Persia than any man living.” — E.G. Browne, A Year amongst the Persians (1893).
“He has written a whole library of learned treatises on Persia, and I venture to affirm with confidence that there is no one at the present time who is better acquainted with the geography of the country than he.” — Sven Hedin, Overland to India (1910)
Contents/Excerpt
chapter 1
Origins & Youth (1846-1867)
chapter 2
The Indo-European Telegraph Department (1868–1875)
chapter 3
The Persian Telegraph (1875–1881)
chapter 4
Inspector General of Mines (1882–1884)
chapter 5
Naser al-Din Shah’s ‘Navy’ (1885-1887)
Chapter 6
Overseeing Banks and Mineral Prospection in the Interest of British Capital (1888–1893)
chapter 7
Schindler & Curzon (1890–1894)
chapter 8
Second Marriage and Eastern Persian Irak (1894-1897)
chapter 9
New Responsibilities and Final Years (1898–1916)
chapter 10
Retrospect
Appendix 1
Schindler’s Publications
Appendix 2
Madame Schindler
Appendix 3
Publications in Schindler’s Personal Library and
their Appearance in his Work
Bibliography
Figures & Credits
Index
