TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- The alleged handwritten Shahnameh of Tajikistan’s Ferdowsi Library is not the world’s oldest one, an Iranian Shahanameh expert said on Monday.

“The versions kept at London, Florence, Istanbul, and Leningrad libraries, dating back to 1276, 1217, 1330, and 1332 respectively, are the world’s oldest Shahnamehs ” said Ali Ravaqi.

The head of Handwritten Works Center of Tajikistan National Library Abdullah Yunusov had said on Saturday that a Shahnameh was kept at the Ferdowsi Library in Dushanbe, dating back to 1523-1529. He had said it was probably the oldest handwritten Shahnameh available in the world.

Yunusov had asked officials of world’s libraries to inform the library if they had a more ancient Shahnameh.

“To study Ferdowsi’s brainchild Shahnameh, researchers should refer to the reliable versions kept in museums and libraries around the world,” Ravaqi concluded.