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ACQUISITIONS OF 1980-7 (Or. 17.061, 17.067)

Cod.Or. 17.061 A ferman An original copy of a ferm&n (emr-i serif), issued to the Englishman John Lancaster, captain of a vessel with a capacity of 168 tons and earring sugar and raw iron; it allowed him free passage through the Bophorus to the Black Sea on condition that he paid a safety tax (selamet resmi) of 300 akge, dated raid-Receb 1263 (25-30 June 1847). The text is headed by a tugra of Sultan ‘Abdulmecfd I (see Umur, pp. 296-301). The verso contains various notes, an address with the name John Lancaster, signatures, and a seal. Glazed white paper, 730x520 mm divani, 8 lines (see plate). Acquired from Jan Willem van Meeuwen, antiquarian bookseller at The Hague, August 1980.

Cod.Or. 17.067 Relazione della vita, legge, governo, dominio, e Potenza del Gran Turco An undated, anonymous description of some aspects of the Ottoman Empire, in Italian. The title is found on f. la. The work was probably written by an Italian, possibly a native of Rome - some comparisons between Istanbul and Rome are made in the text (cf. ff. 12b, 14b) - or Venice (Venetian merchants and the bailo are mentioned on f. 12a; the Sultan’s row-boat is, moreover, called bocintoro , like that of the Doge, cf. 46a), in the late 16th or early 17th century. The last Sultan mentioned in a number of passages is ‘Amurat (Murad III, cf. ff. 21a, 43b, 60b, 70b, 85a), the successor of ‘Selim Secondo’ (Selim II). Although a printed note found in the manuscript suggests that the work was written by the Dutch consul D.J. de Hochepied, this is highly unlikely: there is no mention of Holland, Dutchmen, or Dutch currency (only zecchini and scudi are mentioned), or indeed, of the a Dutch legation in Pera (cf. f. 12a), which was established after 1612. The text is divided into three main parts, headed, respectively, ‘Relatione’ (2a); ‘Circa la Vita del Gran turco, e sua legge Maomettana’; and ‘Circa li Precetti della legge Mahomettana, I’osservanza della sua fede falsa, et il Peregrinaggio della Mecca.’ Subjects broached in the description of Istanbul are, roughly, the following: its geographic situation, its monumental buildings, and in particular its great mosques (from f. 6a); churches (11a); synagogues (12b); its walls (12b); bridges (acquaducts and gates, 13a); great squares (14b); markets and