[A Post-publication Draft for Limited Download]

The essential idea of this project had taken shape in the mid- to late 1990s, and been further articulated before leading to this draft. The authors wish to thank Leann Dean and Peter Bremer of Rodney A. Briggs Library at UMM for their professional assistance and, literally, their around-the-clock response to our constant demand for materials for this research. We also wish to express our gratitude to the International Society for Iranian Studies, particularly to Nasrin Rahimieh and Mansour Bonakdārian, for conveying the announcement concerning the publication of this special issue and encouragement. Lastly, we are grateful to M. Abdullahzadeh, Editor-in-Chief of this journal