Assessments of the Bâzgasht-i Adabî (Literary Return) movement and its construction as a literary category are infused with notions of authentic and inauthentic Persian poetry, particularly through its juxtaposition with the stylistic category of sabk-i Hindî (Indian Style), the often maligned style of poetry on account of which Bâzgasht-i Adabî is presumed to have emerged as a response. While the historiographical debates concerning Bâzgasht-i Adabî will form the backdrop of this paper, its focus will be on some of the early figures and sources deemed to be crucial to the emergence of the movement itself. By returning to the early sources and authors associated with Bâzgasht-i Adabî, this paper will highlight the extra-literary and contextual aspects of the movement, at times overlooked in understandings and constructions of Bâzgasht-i Adabî as a category in narrative literary histories. Through an exploration of poets’ self-perceptions and their attitudes toward and relationships with their contemporaries in the context of late 18th and 19th century Iran, particularly those concerning the triumvirate of Âzar (d. 1781), Hâtif (d. 1783) and Sabâhî (d. ca. 1803), this paper will present the germination of the “movement” at its earliest stages. Attention will also be given to several prominent tazkirahs (biographical anthologies) composed at different points in 19th century Qajar Iran, which begin to chart and record the earliest perceptions and attributes of the movement. This paper will argue that the picture that emerges among the attitudes and works of those considered the founders of the Bâzgasht-i Adabî movement in the late 18th and early 19th century contains some important divergences and varying emphases as compared to later descriptions and analyses of the movement, both those appearing later in the 19th century itself and in subsequent literary history.