The Emperor Akbar's "Khamsah" ("quintet") is a collection of five books of stories, on romantic and heroic themes, composed by the Persian poet Nizami in the late 12th century. Akbar's richly illustrated copy of this work was made in 1595, probably at Lahore where his court was resident at the time, and is now one of the greatest treasures of Indian book painting in the British Library's collection. In this illustrated study of the manuscript, Barbara Brend provides an authoritative introduction to its artistic and historical backgound and brings to life some of the stories which it contains.