This beautifully designed box set brings together two of the finest and most popular selections of classical and early modern Urdu poetry and prose, brilliantly translated into English for the contemporary reader. With short biographies and essays for context, the two anthologies also add up to an illuminating history of pre-modern Urdu literature. In A Thousand Yearnings, Ralph Russell presents a carefully curated selection of literary short stories (by Prem Chand, Manto, Ismat Chughtai and others), popular literature (retellings of old legends, parables and qissas), love poetry by Mir and Ghalib, elegant essays and biting satire, and an abridged version of the iconic novel Umrao Jan Ada. Saif Mahmood?s best-selling treasure of a book, Beloved Delhi, documents the life and work of the finest classical Urdu poets: Sauda, Dard, Mir, Ghalib, Momin, Zafar, Zauq and Daagh. Through their biographies and translated poetry?including their best-known ghazals?it also paints a compelling portrait of late-Mughal Delhi.