ĀŠOFTA

 

ĀŠOFTA, a Persian magazine published in Tehran 1325 Š./1946-1336 Š./1957.

Launched in Farvardīn, 1325 Š./March, 1946 and then named Jong-e āšofta (Jumbled miscellany), it described itself as the continuator of a journal which had appeared under the title Āšofta (at Mašhad?) in 1308 Š./1929-1309 Š./1930 and reappeared under the title Yoyo in Tehran, where it had been printed irregularly from Bahman, 1309 Š./February, 1930 onward and regularly during the year 1322 Š./1943-44. The licensee and editor was ʿEmād ʿAṣṣār (1894-1956). After his death, the publication license was acquired by Moḥammad-ʿAlī Masʿūdī and the management was entrusted to Mrs. Ensīya ʿAṣṣār. The editors of Āšofta in its last years were successively ʿAbbās Forūtan and Īraǰ Ṭabībī Gīlānī, with the title “supervisor.”

Āšofta touched on a wide range of subjects but dealt mainly with Iranian political and social problems. Its social satires, in particular, were interesting and attracted readers. Most of the articles of this sort were from the pen of ʿEmād ʿAṣṣār, who published a selection of them in a book called Wāleda-ye Āqā Moṣṭafā.

Āšofta consisted of 24 two-column pages measuring 23 x 17 cm except in its last year, when the issues had from 32 to 42 three-column pages of the same size. There were no illustrations apart from a caricature on the cover, but in the last year this deficiency was made good; at the same time the outside of the cover was printed in color. The price was initially four rials and in the last year six rials per copy.

Incomplete sets of Āšofta are preserved in the Central Library of Tehran University and the Library of the Āstāna Qods-e Rażawī at Mašhad.

 

Bibliography:

L. P. Elwell Sutton, “The Iranian Press, 1914-1947,” Iran, 1968, pp. 84, 102 (nos. 146, 428).

Ḡ. -Ḥ. Ṣāleḥyār, ed., Čehra-ye maṭbūʿāt-e moʿāṣer, Tehran, 1351 Š./1973.

 

Search terms:

 آشفته ashofte  ashofteh aashofteh

 

(N. Parvīn)

Originally Published: December 15, 1987

Last Updated: August 17, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 7, pp. 778-779