PERSIA

Cameraman Costa focusses on 6000 years of Persian history and trips his shutter on mosque and minaret, plains and palaces -- panning for nearer views of weavers and fishermen, grazing sheep and stately dromedaries, yurts and impregnable desert citadels. From the eroded columns of Persepolis to the derricks of Iran's oilfields, under archways and through dynasties, the reader moves with the guidance of an introductory essay by Laurence Lockhart, professor of Oriental languages at Cambridge. There are 105 photographs in black and white and five color plates plus a chronological tabular history. The jacket is in color.