Journal of Codicology and Manuscript Research
(In persian: Pizhūhish/hā-yi nuskhah/shināsī va taṣḥīḥ-i mutūn)

Journal of Codicology and Manuscript Research (In persian: Pizhūhish/hā-yi nuskhah/shināsī va taṣḥīḥ-i mutūn)

Review and analysis of the Siyaqi booklets, case study: (Collection and expenditure booklet of the provinces of Astarabad and Gorgan, 1313 AH)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Assistante Professor History department. Tehran University
2 PhD student in History, Islamic Iran orientation, University of Tehran
3 Master of Arts in History, Islamic Iran Orientation, University of Tehran
10.22034/crtc.2026.561024.1211
Abstract
Astaraabad and Gorgan, due to their association with the Qajar tribe, have alwayss held great significance during the Qajar period. It was expected that the Qajars would pay special attention to the economic conditions and the development of the region. However, an examination and analysis of the revenue and expenditure ledgers does not support this expectation. This study focuses on the transcription and re-examination of the revenue and expenditure manual of Astaraabad and Gorgan, alongside a statistical analysis of It, to explore not only the developments In the Astaraabad and Gorgan region during the governorship of Vahid-Allah Mirza but also shed light on some aspects of the economic history of the Qajar period. The research method In this paper Is descriptive-analytical, based on document-based and library research. The findings of this study indicate that during the Qajar era, most of the taxes collected from the provinces and regions, including Astaraabad and Gorgan, were allocated to governmental expenses, military costs, Salaries of civil servants, and royal princes, with very little being spent on the region itself. This practice not only hindered the local economic growth but also contributed to the minimal amount of tax revenue reaching the central treasury. his practice not only hindered the local economic growth but also contributed to the minimal amount of tax revenue reaching the central treasury.
Keywords
Subjects

Manuscripts
1.       Sa‘ādat-nāmah (Risālah-i Falakiyyah) by ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Alī Falak ‘Alāy Tabrīzī, Islamic Consultative Assembly Library (ICASL) , Catalogue No. 6541.
2.       Documents
3.       Ledger of Revenues and Expenditures of Qūyūnlū Astarābād and Gorgān: Revenues Belonging to His Most Exalted Majesty the Sepahsālār." Central Library and Documentation Center of the University of Tehran, Catalogue No.9161.
4.       Document No. 68, Q Collection." Contemporary History of Iran Institute.
Books
5.       Abbott, Keith Edward (1990). Cities and Trade of Iran in the Qajar Period: Consul Abbott's Report on the Economy and Society of Iran (1847–1866). Translated by Seyyed Abdolhossein Raeisossadat. Tehran: Amirkabir.
6.       Ādamīyat, Ferēdūn (1972). The Idea of Progress and the Rule of Law in the Age of Sepahsālār. Tehran: Kharazmi.
7.       Ayati, Abdolhossein (Ed.) (2007). Mirʼāt al-Vaqāyiʻ-i Muẓaffarī. Vol. 2. Tehran: Mirās-e Maktub.
8.       Bāmdād, Mehdī. Biographies of the Men of Iran. Vol. 3. Tehran: Zavvār, n.d.
9.       Barnes, Alex (1987). Barnes's Travelogue: Journey to Iran during the Reign of Fatḥ-ʻAli Shāh Qājār. Translated by Hassan Soltānifar. Mashhad: Astan Quds Razavi Publications.
10.   Bayānī, Bahman (2012). The Notebook of Revenue and Expenditure of All the Vilayets of the Protected Realms for the Year 1304 AH. Tehran: Library, Museum and Documentation Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.
11.   Böhler (1977). Böhler's Travelogue (Geography of Rasht and Māzandarān). Edited by Ali-Akbar Khodāparast. Tehran: Tous.
12.   Curzon, George Nathaniel (1994). Persia and the Persian Question. Translated by Gholāmali Vahīd Māzandarānī. Vols. 1 & 2. Tehran: Elmi Farhangi.
13.   Etemād-os-Saltaneh, Mohammad-Hasan (1966). Memoirs (Rūznāmeh-ye Khāterāt). Edited by Iraj Afshār. Tehran: Amirkabir.
14.   Etemād-os-Saltaneh, Mohammad-Hasan (1984). Al-Maʼāther va’l-Āthār. Vol. 1. Edited by Iraj Afshār. Tehran: Ostureh.
15.   Flor, Willem (2012). Weights and Measures in the Qajar Era. Translated by Mostafā Nāmdāri Monfared. Tehran: Ābād-boum.
16.   Forūghī Eṣfahānī, Mohammad Mehdī (1999). Forūghestān. Edited by Iraj Afshār. Tehran: Mirās-e Maktub.
17.   Gurkhanchī (Şūlat-i Nizām), Mohammad Alī (1981). Nokhbeh-ye Seyfiyeh. Edited by Mansoureh Ettehādīyeh. Tehran: Nashr-e Tārīkh-e Iran.
18.   H.L. Rabino (1986). Māzandarān and Astarābād. Translated by Gholāmali Vahīd Māzandarānī. Tehran: Elmi Farhangi.
19.   Issawi, Charles (1983). The Economic History of Iran (1800–1914). Translated by Yaʻqūb Āzhand. Tehran: Gostareh.
20.   Jamālzādeh, Mohammad Alī (1983). Ganj-e Shāygān. 1st ed. Tehran: Ketāb-e Tehran.
21.   Kāẓem Beygī, Mohammad Alī (2021). "Opposition to Mismanagement in Qajar Iran: The Revolt in Astarābād (1892)." Social History Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2.
22.   Kāẓem Beygī, Mohammad Alī (2010). "Russia, the Caspian Sea and Astarābād: Report of Taylor Thomson, Attaché of the British Political Mission in Tehran (April 15, 1846)." Translated by Mohammad Alī Kāẓem Beygī. Historical Studies Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 28.
23.   Kāẓem Beygī, Mohammad Alī & Hosseinī, Seyyed Mostafā (2011). "Provincial Taxes and Expenditures in the Qajar Period: The Dastūr al-‘Amal Notebook of Revenue and Expenditure of Bastām and Shāhrūd (1878–1879)." History and Islamic Civilization, Vol. 7, No. 13.
24.   Khānizādeh, Mehdī & Hasanābādī, Abolfazl (2015). "The Organization and Internal Structure of the Qajar Army Based on the Collection of Hasan Zadeh in the Astan Quds Razavi Documents Center." Ganjīneh-ye Asnād, Vol. 25, No. 3.
25.   Lambton, A.K.S. (1983). Landlord and Peasant in Persia. Translated by Manouchehr Amīrī. Tehran: Elmi Farhangi.
26.   Lambton, A.K.S. (2009). "Land Tenure and Revenue Administration in the Nineteenth Century." In: The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 7: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic. Edited by Peter Avery. Translated by Morteza Sāghebfar. Tehran: Jāmī.
27.    Litten, Wilhelm (1988). Iran: From Peaceful Penetration to Protectorate (1860–1919). Translated by Maryam Mīr-Ahmadī. Tehran: Mo'īn.
28.    Mackenzie, Charles Francis (1980). Northern Travelogue (Safarnāmeh-ye Shomālī). Edited by Mansoureh Ettehādīyeh (Nizām Māfī). Tehran: Gostareh.
29.    Melgunov, Grigory Valerianovich (1997). The Southern Shores of the Caspian Sea, or the Northern Provinces of Iran. Translated by Amīr Houshang Amīnī. Tehran: n.p.
30.   Mīrzā Ebrāhīm (1976). Travelogue of Astarābād, Māzandarān and Gīlān. Edited by Mas'ūd Golzārī. Tehran: Iran Cultural Foundation.
31.    Mo'īn, Mohammad (1963–1974). Farhang-e Fārsī-ye Mo'īn (Mo'īn Persian Dictionary). 6 vols. Tehran: Amirkabir.
32.    Morier, James (2007). The Second Journey through Persia. Translated by Abolghāsem Sarī. Tehran: Tous.
33.    Mossadegh, Mohammad (1987). Memoirs and Sorrows of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh. Preface by Gholāmhossein Mossadegh. Edited by Iraj Afshār. Tehran: Elmi Farhang
34.   Mostowfī, Abdollāh (1992). The Story of My Life: A Social and Administrative History of the Qajar Era. Vol. 1. Tehran: Zavvār.
35.    Neyestānī, Javād (2010). Golestāneh. Tehran: Peyk-e Reyhān.
36.    Pourshāfe'ī, Majīd (2006). Economy of the Alley: A Report on Iran's National Currency, Cost of Living and Wages. Tehran: Gām-e No.
37.    Razmārā, Alī (1941). Military Geography of Iran: Gorgān and the Caspian Sea. Tehran: n.p.
38.    Reza'ī, Omīd (2011). An Introduction to Sharīʻah Documents of the Qajar Period. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies.
39.    Rostā'ī, Mohsen (2016). Historical Literature and Bureaucracy in Iran: From the Mongol Period to the Beginning of the Safavid State, Based on Persian Prose Texts and Historical Written Documents, with an Emphasis on the Study of Chancellery-Social Terms and Diplomatics (7th–9th Centuries AH). Tehran: Nedā-ye Tārīkh.
40.    Rostā'ī, Mohsen (2023). Mahmūd Khān Ehteshām-os-Saltaneh and a Re-reading of the Siyāq Notebook of Revenue and Expenditure of Dār-os-Sa'ādeh Zanjān, Nāserī Era, 1311 AH. Tehran: Mehrandish.
41.    Rashtī, Mīrzā Ebrāhīm (1976). Travelogue of Astarābād, Māzandarān and Gīlān. Edited by M. Golzārī. Tehran: Iran Cultural Foundation.
42.   Şafīnezhād, Javād (2008). An Effort in Teaching the Siyāq Script. Tehran: National Library and Archives of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
43.    Şahhat-e Manesh, Rezā; Dastvān, Ahmad; Āghabeygīpūr, Mostafā (2022). "Analysis of the Tax Notebooks of Revenue and Expenditure of Hamadān and Qarāgūzlū Provinces in 1887 and 1888." Research Journal of Islamic Civilization History, Vol. 55, No. 1.
44.    Shahbāzī Farāhānī, Dāryūsh (2001). History of Coinage in the Qajar Era. Tehran: Būrkeh-yī.
45.    Shawqī, Abbās (1935). Dasht-e Gorgān. Tehran: Khāvar.
46.   Tafreshī. Khulāṣeh al-Siyāq (lithograph). National Library and Archives of Iran, Catalogue No. 9563-6.
47.    Tāherī, Abolghāsem (1968). Historical Geography of Gīlān, Māzandarān and Azerbaijan in the Eyes of Travelers. Tehran: Publications of the Central Council of the Commemoration of the Iranian Monarchy.
48.   Zabīhī, Masīh (1969). Astarābād-nāmeh. In collaboration with Iraj Afshār & Mohammad Taqī Dānesh Pazhūh. Tehran: Iran-Zamin Cultural Publications.
 

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 30 August 2026

  • Receive Date 20 November 2025
  • Revise Date 31 January 2026
  • Accept Date 23 February 2026
  • Publish Date 30 August 2026