Litten, Wilhelm. Introduction to Persian Diplomatic Language (Einführung in die persische Diplomatensprache), 1919. In German and Persian.

Litten, Wilhelm. Introduction to Persian Diplomatic Language (Einführung in die persische Diplomatensprache). / Textbooks of the Seminar for Oriental Languages in Berlin, Volume XXXI.
Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1919.
Section 1: 64 pp.; Section 2: 64 pp. Hardcover, regular format. In German and Persian.

This 1919 scholarly edition, published in Berlin by Georg Reimer, is an essential manual for the study of Qajar-era Iranian diplomacy. Authored by Wilhelm Litten (1880–1932), a prominent German diplomat and Orientalist who served extensively in Persia, this work was issued as the 31st volume of the prestigious textbook series from the Seminar for Oriental Languages (SOS) at the University of Berlin.
The book is uniquely structured into two distinct sections to facilitate the mastery of the complex Persian bureaucratic language. Section 1 provides the necessary academic framework, including a foreword, meticulous transliterations, and German translations of official documents. Section 2 is dedicated entirely to the Persian text itself, presented in the challenging and elegant Shikasteh (Shikäsztä) script—a cursive style of calligraphy used primarily for diplomatic correspondence, decrees, and administrative records in 19th and early 20th-century Iran.
Litten’s work was born out of practical necessity; as a consul in Tabriz and later a diplomatic representative, he recognized that standard literary Persian was insufficient for navigating the nuances of the Persian court and chancellery. The manual covers technical terminology, formal address, and the specific syntax required for international treaties and internal state communications during the late Qajar dynasty.
Beyond its linguistic value, the book serves as a historical document reflecting the deep ties between Germany and Persia in the early 20th century. For Iranologists, historians of diplomacy, paleographers, and collectors of Orientalist publications, this two-part volume remains a rare and vital resource for deciphering the "broken" script that defined an era of Middle Eastern political history.