Still quoted as an authority on Müteferrika

Toderini, [Giambattista]. Litteratur der Türken. Aus dem Italiänischen mit Zusätzen und Anmerkungen von Philipp Wilhelm Gottlieb Hausleutner.

Königsberg, Friedrich Nicolovius, 1790.

8vo. 3 parts in 1 vol. XXIV, (4), 267, (1) pp. VIII, 162; (163)-325, (1) pp. With 2 folding plates of music (1 letterpress, printed on both sides; 1 engraved). Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine labels. All edges red.

 1,800.00

First German edition, based on the Italian original edition published in 1787. An excellent source work on the culture of the Ottoman Empire, one of the first publications ever to treat the subject. Part 1, pp. 240-267, discusses Turkish music (with two plates of music, also showing a tanbur). Part 2 mainly treats of libraries and book collections, while part 3 contains the first-ever complete catalogue of the famous Müteferrika press - a closely annotated bibliography of the books produced by the first Turkish printshop, installed under Ahmed III in 1727. "Toderini is still quoted as an authority on this press by modern bibliographers [...] Giovanni Battista Toderini (1728-99), Venetian philologist and book collector, accompanied the Garzoni embassy to Constantinople in 1781" (Blackmer). There, he spent five years "studying Ottoman civilization and collecting Turkish mathematical instruments as well as a great number of Arabic books and manuscripts. The work contains much information on Turkish letters, and includes a list of the books from the Seraglio library which he took to Venice on his return" (Atabey).

Binding slightly rubbed; interior cound and clean. Old ownership "Edward Bonniger" to flyleaf. Rare.

References

Eitner X, 415. RISM B VI, 835. Graesse VI.2, 165. Fétis VIII, 233. Bigmore/W. III, 18. De Backer/S. VIII, 58, no. 8 (note). OCLC 7342790. Cf. Blackmer 1664. Atabey 1223f. Brunet V, 873. Not in Besterman.