The history of the Ottoman navy

[Katib Chelebi]. Khalifeh, Mustafa ben Abdullah Haji / Mitchell, James (transl.). [Tuhfat al-kibâr fi asfâr al-Bihâr.] The History of the Maritime Wars of the Turks. Chapters I to IV.

€ 1.500,00

First English translation of Kâtib Çelebi's great work on the history of the Ottoman navy, "The Gift to the Great Ones on Naval Campaigns". Written in 1657, the book was the second to be printed at Ibrahim Müteferrika's famous Constantinople press (in 1729). It emphasises the importance of the Turkish activities in the seas and the Ottoman contribution to the navigational history, long a strangely neglected subject. Kâtib Çelebi, who is one of the outstanding names of the Ottoman world of scholarship in 17th century and one of the most prolific authors in terms of the number and types of his works during that period, was a man of knowledge, ideas and culture who was widely spoken about in the Ottoman period of the Islamic World.

Withdrawn from the Foreign Office Library with their engraved armorial bookplate and withdrawal stamp.