54

THE TAESCHNER COLLECTION (Or. 12.347)

Cod. Or. 12.347 V&ridat A late 19th-century copy of a treatise on mysticism by ‘AIT ‘AzTz Efendi GiridI (d. 1213/1798). The title and author are mentioned in a heading preceding the text on p. 2; to the name of the author is added ‘ ‘an hdcegdn-i dmn-i hümayün ve süferü-yi saltanat-i semye' (see plate). A more detailed biographical note follows the text in pp. 64-5 in which it is stated that when the author died in Berlin, a dervish in Istanbul anounced his demise to his family (cf. quotation, below). Both annotations also occur in the Istanbul MS Ali Emiri Efendi, §er’ iyye 1154/23, and our copy may well have been copied from it. The author was tax collector and ambassador in Berlin (from 1211/1796-7). He knew French and some German. The treatise was, according to a note by the author in his better known Muhayyelat, written in response to questions posed by Berlin scholars and defends the irrationalism of mystic religiosity (see for further details Tietze’s article). Bound in red boards, embossed in fin-de siècle Oriental style; brownish paper; (2)+65+7+(2) pages with original numbers in red; 228x145 mm and 160x100 mm, varying; 18 lines; without catchwords; elegant nk‘a; rubrics and lines in red; completed by GiridI Ahmed $ükri (?) on 20 §a‘ban 1309 (20 March 1892); the inscription ‘Franz Taeschner Ms. Nr. 20’ by the owner himself occurs on p. 1.

Ends (p. 64): Ji-k* s c*»"» 5 oój* 3 -^i 1 J 1 *-* 1 ** *^4* üU* l» I» I» The biographical note (pp. 64-5): aJUL. l5> Lï>«L*. jj>c. ^ ^-o-Lu. yjjj aJLc cuJjj tJljl» ^ .i..l aAiL »' u ... Aili- jUJjj jj O^JL>0 J jj>t uit oJifcL-/ ••• -U—LJULi J* J J.^«- xLiiL JUS ^ jV jl $ JL-t 4*-" A ^ *4Jj At -» IS ■*?"** j\JL* 3 ... Mi Ai' ojUi-/l