gems, jade

A two-volume collection of Armenian historical texts edited and translated into French by the Orientalist Marie-Félicité Brosset. Drawing on Armenian chronicles and documentary sources, the work presents histories ranging from the medieval period into the eighteenth century, including accounts of the Ardzruni dynasty, Aghvank, the Safavids, David Bek and the reign of Nadir Shah, together with chronological tables and other historical documents. The collection is an important nineteenth-century vehicle for making Armenian historical sources accessible to European scholars and is valuable for the study of Armenia, the Caucasus and their relations with Persia and neighboring regions.