Within this collection are four resources. The first entitled the same after this collection, includes contextual information on the Shahnama in general as well as information about UMMA's copy. In the three other resources are translations of the folios and character descriptions for each of the three sections of the Shahnama.
From Ferdowsi's Shahnama, the Persian Book of Kings
Cast of Characters:
Gaiumart: the legendary first shah who taught humans, "the arts of life"
Ahriman: Gaiumart's opponent and the embodiment of evil
He who compiled the ancient legendary, And tales of paladins, saith Gaiumart Invented crown and throne, and was a Shah. . . . Its lord was Gaiumart, who dwelt at first Upon a mountain; thence his throne and fortune Rose. He and all his troop wore leopard-skins, And under him the arts of life began, For food and dress were in their infancy. He reigned o’er all the earth for thirty years, In goodness like a sun upon the throne, And as a full moon o’er a lofty cypress So shone he from the seat of king of kings. The cattle and the divers beasts of prey Grew tame before him; men stood not erect Before his throne but bent, as though in prayer. Warner, I, 118–19