Uncommon Italian-Turkish dictionary

Mascis, Antonio. Vocabolario Toscano, e Turchesco. Arricchito di molte voci Arabe, Persane, Tartare, e Greche, necessarie alla perfetta cognizione della stessa lingua Turchesca.

Florence, Niccolò Navesi, 1677.

8vo. (32), "290" (but: 288; omitting 257f.), 38 pp. With engraved frontispiece (portrait of Cosimo Medici III) and woodcut Medici coat of arms on title page. Contemporary limp vellum with handwritten spine title.

 2,500.00

Only edition of this uncommon Italian-Turkish dictionary by the Neapolitan linguist Mascis, interpreter to the Grand Duke of Tuscany (to whom his effort is dedicated). In Roman type throughout, even the table of Arabic letters consists only of the letters' transliterated names. The alphabetical word list is followed by quick-reference sections on the parts of the human body as well as on numbers and the names of the Islamic months, and lists of the languagues spoken throughout the Ottoman Empire (no fewer than 33), of the kingdoms and principalities ruled by the Ottomans, and of the names of all the Ottoman sultans to Mehmed IV, reigning at the date of publication. A final part with separate page numbering contains a basic grammar of Turkish to facilitate translation from Italian into the Turkish language.

Occasional brownstaining. Wants endpapers; contemporary ownership on front pastedown. A little loosened, but complete. A rare little vocabulary. The Macclesfield copy, which wanted the portrait frontispiece, commanded £1060.

References

Zaunmüller 389. Vater/Jülg 414. BM-STC Italian XVII, 554.