A Ottoman-era Turkish translation of the Proverbs of Solomon, by a French copyist

[Biblia turcica - VT - Proverbia]. Özdeyisler Kitabi [Book of Proverbs].

€ 5.000,00

An interesting manuscript by a French copyist, offering a Turkish translation of the Proverbs of Solomon, or Book of Proverbs (in modern Turkish, "Özdeyisler Kitabi"). The work is written in Latin characters on the right half of each page, with an opening section and a few words in Ottoman Turkish in the left margin.

The Book of Proverbs is a canonical text in both Judaism and Christianity, though not Islam. Per its French colophon, the manuscript was completed in Paris on the 5th of July 1816, at 8 o'clock in the evening.

At the end of the manuscript, inverted, are 9 folios of a second text entitled "Capitulations de la France avec la sublime Porte". This comprises is a copy of a treaty between France and the Ottoman Empire, written in Ottoman Turkish and accompanied by a glossary providing the French translation of a large number of Turkish words.