The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan

A Persian Rogue's Progress

James Justinian Morier

• Publisher: Aeneas Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9785501670211
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

A barber's son of Ispahan lies, flatters and betrays his way up through the Persia of the Shah — physician, executioner's assistant, secretary, envoy — and reports it all cheerfully. Morier had been a diplomat in Tehran and published this in 1824; Persians long believed it was written by one of their own to shame them. It is the best picaresque novel in English about a country the English barely knew. Thirty-one plates of Persian and Orientalist painting by Gérôme, Roberts and others, dating 1814 to 1900, picture the bazaars, deserts and courts that Hajji Baba moves through.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan
• Introduction
• Introductory Epistle
• Chapter I — Of Hajji Baba’s Birth and Education
• Chapter II — Hajji Baba Commences His Travels—His Encounter with the Turcomans, and His Captivity
• Chapter III — Into What Hands Hajji Baba Falls, and the Fortune Which His Razors Proved to Him
• Chapter IV — Of His Ingenuity in Rescuing His Master’s Money from the Turcoman, and of His Determination to Keep It
• Chapter V — Hajji Baba Becomes a Robber in His Own Defence, and Invades His Native City
• Chapter VI — Concerning the Three Prisoners Taken by the Turcomans, and of the Booty Made in the Caravanserai
• Chapter VII — Hajji Baba Evinces a Feeling Disposition—History of the Poet Asker
• Chapter VIII — Hajji Baba Escapes from the Turcomans—The Meaning of ‘falling from the Frying-Pan Into the Fire’ Illustrated
• Chapter IX — Hajji Baba, in His Distress, Becomes a Saka, or Water-Carrier
• Chapter X — He Makes a Soliloquy, and Becomes an Itinerant Vendor of Smoke
• Chapter XI — History of Dervish Sefer, and of Two Other Dervishes
• Chapter XII — Hajji Baba Finds That Fraud Does Not Remain Unpunished, Even in This World—He Makes Fresh Plans
• Chapter XIII — Hajji Baba Leaves Meshed, Is Cured of His Sprain, and Relates a Story
• Chapter XIV — Of the Man He Meets, and the Consequences of the Encounter
• Chapter XV — Hajji Baba Reaches Tehran, and Goes to the Poet’s House
• Chapter XVI — He Makes Plans for the Future, and Is Involved in a Quarrel
• Chapter XVII — He Puts on New Clothes, Goes to the Bath, and Appears in a New Character
• Chapter XVIII — The Poet Returns from Captivity—The Consequences of It for Hajji Baba
• Chapter XIX — Hajji Baba Gets Into the Service of the King’s Physician—Of the Manner He Was First Employed by Him
• Chapter XX — He Succeeds in Deceiving Two of the Faculty, Getting a Pill from One, and a Piece of Gold from the Other
• Chapter XXI — He Describes the Manner in Which the Shah of Persia Takes Medicine
• Chapter XXII — Hajji Baba Asks the Doctor for a Salary, and of the Success of His Demand
• Chapter XXIII — He Becomes Dissatisfied with His Situation, Is Idle, and Falls in Love
• Chapter XXIV — He Has an Interview with the Fair Zeenab, Who Relates How She Passes Her Time in the Doctor’s Harem
• Chapter XXV — The Lovers Meet Again, and Are Very Happy—Hajji Baba Sings
• Chapter XXVI — The History of Zeenab, the Cûrdish Slave
• Chapter XXVII — Of the Preparations Made by the Chief Physician to Receive the Shah as His Guest, and of the Great Expense Which Threatened Him
• Chapter XXVIII — Concerning the Manner of the Shah’s Reception; of the Present Made Him, and the Conversation Which Ensued
• Chapter XXIX — A Description of the Entertainment, Which Is Followed by an Event Destructive to Hajji Baba’s Happiness
• Chapter XXX — Hajji Baba Meets with a Rival in the Shah Himself, and Loses the Fair Object of His Affections
• Chapter XXXI — His Reflections on the Loss of Zeenab—He Is Suddenly Called Upon to Exert His Skill as a Doctor
• Chapter XXXII — Hajji Is Appointed to a Situation Under Government—He Becomes an Executioner
• Chapter XXXIII — He Accompanies the Shah to His Camp, and Gets Some Insight Into His Profession
• Chapter XXXIV — Employed in His Official Capacity, Hajji Baba Gives a Specimen of Persian Despotism
• Chapter XXXV — Fortune, Which Pretended to Frown, in Fact Smiles Upon Hajji Baba, and Promotes Him to Be Sub-Lieutenant to the Chief Executioner
• Chapter XXXVI — Although by Trade an Executioner, He Shows a Feeling Heart—He Meets with a Young Man and Woman in Distress
• Chapter XXXVII — The History of Yûsûf, the Armenian, and His Wife Mariam
• Chapter XXXVIII — Sequel of the Foregoing History, and of the Resolution Which Hajji Baba Takes in Consequence
• Chapter XXXIX — The Armenian Yûsûf Proves Himself Worthy of Hajji Baba’s Confidence
• Chapter XL — Hajji Baba Gives an Account of His Proceedings to His Superiors, and Shows Himself a Friend to the Distressed
• Chapter XLI — He Describes an Expedition Against the Russians, and Does Ample Justice to the Cowardice of His Chief
• Chapter XLII — He Proceeds to the King’s Camp, and Gives a Specimen of Lying on a Grand Scale
• Chapter XLIII — He Relates a Horrid Tale, the Consequences of Which Plunge Him in the Greatest Misery
• Chapter XLIV — Hajji Baba Meets with an Old Friend, Who Cheers Him Up, Gives Him Good Advice, and Secures Him from Danger
• Chapter XLV — He Takes Refuge in a Sanctuary, Where His Melancholy Thoughts Are Diverted by a Curious Story
• Chapter XLVI — He Becomes a Saint, and Associates with the Most Celebrated Divine in Persia
• Chapter XLVII — Hajji Baba Is Robbed by His Friend, and Left Utterly Destitute; but Is Released from His Confinement
• Chapter XLVIII — Hajji Baba Reaches Ispahan, and His Paternal Roof, Just Time Enough to Close the Eyes of His Dying Father
• Chapter XLIX — He Becomes Heir to Property Which Is Not to Be Found, and His Suspicions Thereon
• Chapter L — Showing the Steps He Takes to Discover His Property, and Who the Diviner, Teez Negah, Was
• Chapter LI — Of the Diviner’s Success in Making Discoveries, and of the Resolution Which Hajji Baba Takes in Consequence
• Chapter LII — Hajji Baba Quits His Mother, and Becomes the Scribe to a Celebrated Man of the Law
• Chapter LIII — The Mollah Nadân Gives an Account of His New Scheme for Raising Money, and for Making Men Happy
• Chapter LIV — Hajji Baba Becomes a Promoter of Matrimony, and of the Register He Keeps
• Chapter LV — Of the Man Hajji Baba Meets, Thinking Him Dead; and of the Marriage Which He Brings About
• Chapter LVI — Showing How the Ambition of the Mollah Nadân Involves Both Him and His Disciples in Ruin
• Chapter LVII — Hajji Baba Meets with an Extraordinary Adventure in the Bath, Which Miraculously Saves Him from the Horrors of Despair
• Chapter LVIII — Of the Consequences of the Adventure, Which Threaten Danger, but End in Apparent Good Fortune
• Chapter LIX — Hajji Baba Does Not Shine in Honesty—The Life and Adventures of the Mollah Nadân
• Chapter LX — Hajji and the Mollah Make Plans Suited to Their Critical Situation, Showing That No Confidence Can Exist Between Rogues
• Chapter LXI — The Punishment Due to Hajji Baba Falls Upon Nadân, Which Makes the Former a Staunch Predestinarian
• Chapter LXII — Hajji Baba Hears an Extraordinary Sequel to His Adventure in the Bath, and Feels All the Alarms of Guilt
• Chapter LXIII — He Is Discovered and Seized, but His Good Stars Again Befriend and Set Him Free
• Chapter LXIV — He Reaches Bagdad, Meets His First Master, and Turns His Views to Commerce
• Chapter LXV — He Purchases Pipe-Sticks, and Inspires a Hopeless Passion in the Breast of His Old Master’s Daughter
• Chapter LXVI — He Becomes a Merchant, Leaves Bagdad, and Accompanies a Caravan to Constantinople
• Chapter LXVII — Hajji Baba Makes a Conquest of the Widow of an Emir, Which at First Alarms, but Afterwards Elates Him
• Chapter LXVIII — He Obtains an Interview with the Fair Shekerleb, Makes a Settlement Upon Her, and Becomes Her Husband
• Chapter LXIX — From a Vender of Pipe-Sticks He Becomes a Rich Aga, but Feels All the Inconvenience of Supporting a False Character
• Chapter LXX — His Desire to Excite Envy Lays the Foundation of His Disgrace—He Quarrels with His Wife
• Chapter LXXI — He Is Discovered to Be an Impostor, Loses His Wife, and the Wide World Is Again Before Him
• Chapter LXXII — An Incident in the Street Diverts His Despair—He Seeks Consolation in the Advice of Old Osman
• Chapter LXXIII — In Endeavouring to Gain Satisfaction from His Enemies He Acquires a Friend—Some Account of Mirza Firouz
• Chapter LXXIV — He Becomes Useful to an Ambassador, Who Makes Him a Partaker of His Confidence
• Chapter LXXV — Of His First Essays in Public Life, and of the Use He Was to His Employer
• Chapter LXXVI — Hajji Baba Writes the History of Europe and with His Ambassador Returns to Persia
• Chapter LXXVII — The Ceremony of Receiving a Frank Ambassador at the Court Is Described
• Chapter LXXVIII — Hajji Is Noticed by the Grand Vizier, and Is the Means of Gratifying That Minister’s Favourite Passion
• Chapter LXXIX — Of the Manner in Which He Turned His Influence to Use, and How He Was Again Noticed by the Vizier
• Chapter LXXX — The Conclusion—Misfortune Seems to Take Leave of Hajji Baba, Who Returns to His Native City a Greater Man Than When He First Left
• P.P
• About the Author