This design pays tribute to an 18th-century binding that housed the Khamsa, a seminal work by Persian Sunni Muslim poet Nizami Ganjavi (c. 1141-1209). His best-known work, the Khamsa is a series of five long narrative poems. The first of these, Makhzan-ol-Asrâr, was influenced by an early Sufi book of mystical poetry. The four other poems are medieval romances. Nizami's tragic story of star-crossed lovers Layla and Majnun has famously inspired many contemporary artists with its theme of unrequited love. The delicately adorned cover of this Layla journal, the second title in our Persian Poetry series, reflects the beauty of the words held within the original 18th-century book.