Here is a classic picture of an Iranian Passport belonging to the late Abolqasem Shoraka (1903-1998) from 1932 AD or 1311 AP (AP = Anno Persico or Persian year).
The first thing you will notice is that French was the main foreign language in Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi. English replaced French a few decades later as the British Empire increased it’s activities inside Persia. According to these pictures, Mr. Shoraka was born on 1282 AP, which was during the reign of Mozafaredin Shah of Qajar. Another interesting fact mentioned is that Mr. Shoraka has a shaved beard and a unibrow. The last item in the first page is religion. However they have marked it out and replaced it with “Nationality: Iranian.”
The photos are copyrighted under Creative Commons to rshoraka.
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Dear persiancowboy,
The above photos are copyrighted under Creative Commons (by-nc-nd) license, meaning that one must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. You can find the original version of these photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rshoraka/2486813536/
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rshoraka/2486807452/
Mr. Shoraka,
I received this pictures in an email thread forwarded to me without any names. I assumed them to be in public domain. However I will add your name and link to the flickr account.
Thanks