320

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.438, cont.)

tioned on the last page (623). The title of the original work and its author are mentioned in p. 3:10-2. The work is preceded by a lengthy introduction by the translator (pp. 1-13), and is divided into 33 chapters (bab) and a conclusion (hatime). The work was offered to Grand Vizier [Sokollu] Mehmed Pa§a (in office 972/1565-987/1579, cf. SO 2 IV, p. 1073), whose heroism during the last military campaign of Sultan Süleyman and the conquest of Szigetvar (in 974/1566) is extensively praised in the introduction (his name is mentioned in p. 5:13, cf. also the article by M. Fuad Köprülü). The work ends with a colophon by the author (p. 623, quoted below, see plate), in which he states that the work was completed in Istanbul during the night of Friday, 22 Rebf'ü l-ewel 975 (26 September 1567). The copy could, therefore, be an autograph, but one has to bear in mind that there are other manuscripts, among them two described in Fihris 3683 and 3684, which end in the same way, and it is unlikely that the lengthy texts were all written out by the author. The colophon is followed by a vakf inscription (quoted below, see plate), stating that the manuscript had been turned into a pious foundation in mid-RebC'ii l-ahir 1026 (18-27 April 1617). This is confirmed by the legend ‘vakffisebil Allah’, written in bold sülüs in the outer margins of various pages. Marginal corrections and additions. Bound in embossed dark red leather with flap, blind tooled insets in Oriental style; glazed white to cream paper; 2+623+2 pages; original page numbers; 197x130 mm and 149x80 mm; 21 lines; catchwords; nesih; headings, rubrics, Arabic quotations, lines and dots in red; double red borders; gold borders within red lines on pp. 1-2; a headpiece with floral motifs in gold and blue with the title in black occurs on p. 1; an author’s colophon dated 975/1567 is found on the last page (623, cf. above); an owner’s inscription in barely legible fikeste, dated 1070/1659-60, and seal, showing the names Mustafa and Mehmed, are found on the (heavily damaged and unnumbered) ‘title page’; another seal is found in the margin of p. 622; the inscription ‘Franz Taeschner Ms. Nr. 138 is found on the title page. (The manuscript was bought from Nasrullah in October 1930, according to note in Cod.Or. 12.583.) Begins (p. 1): 3_>. (jJjJ AJLJ Ul ... J_.«u) -iLa Jil Uri 1$^ 4 A ® > ' ... 4£ j-iJjl cJL# alSjlS tjljifti <i j jj J al£jljL Ends (p. 623): .'is i^. (Jsj-d>l ■ >ltl -r.* *1) i ••• ^jl d>jl Li Ji ... 4JJ I **> >*JI 3 * V ‘ 11 Ya><«