It was in 1921 that Baba-e Urdu Moulavi ‘Abdul Haqq published this celebrated essay of Dr. ‘Abdurrrahman Bijnouri, prefacing it with a short introductory note in which he expressed his grief over the untimely death of its author. Since then two literary developments came to pass—first, that Mahasin became an indispensible classic in Ghalib studies; and, second, that many editions and reprints of the text started coming out.
But it so happens that none of the hitherto printed texts is error-free. Then, the Mahasin is replete with unfamiliar foreign names and often far-fetched technical terminology—no edition managed to explain these fully or reliably. Now for the first time in the history of this text, Oxford University Press is publishing Dr. Syed Nomanul Haq’s critical edition which has been standardized collating four prominent earlier versions, and making emendations where they are compellingly warranted. This Haq Edition comes with a detailed introduction as well as full critical apparatus; it also identifies with biographical data all personages referred to by the author, and explicates all technical words using the most up-to-date sources, providing notes. By fixing the page and line numbers of the text, the Mahasin has at last been made citable for future references in a standardized manner.
