The author identifies himself as Muhammad Bāgir, a native of the town of Bawānāt, now known as Suriān, in Iran.
The creator of this work is unknown.
George Macdonald Home Playfair was born on 22 August 1850 at Shahjehanpore, Bengal, India, and educated at Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire, and Trinity College, Dublin. He joined the China Consular Service in 1872 as a student interpreter. He continued in the Consular Service until his retirement in 1901, rising through the ranks to become Foochow Consul in 1899. He retired to England with his wife, Winifred May Playfair, and died there in 1917.
Charles Elliott was born in London in 1776. He married Alicia Boileau in Calcutta in 1802 whilst working for the East india Company. He returned to London, living in Portland Place and was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. He died in 1856. One of his sons, Rev Charles Boileau Elliott, became a well-known travel writer.