[Two Ottoman Turkish Texts]

This volume contains the following two texts:. ff 1v-126v : A compendium of general history dealing primarily with the Ottoman Dynasty, compiled by Mehmet Nişancı. The author, who calls himself ''the ancient servant, the humble Mehmet, sometimes writer of the imperial tuğra'', after enlarging upon the utility of history, says that he wrote the present abridgement by order of the reigning Sultan Süleyman. Haj. Khal. calls the author Ramazanzade Mehmet et-Tevki'i, from the Arabic equivalent of Nişancı, adding that he died in 979 AH (1571-72 CE). But the author is more generally known as Kuçuk Nişancı, to distinguish him from the better-known Koca Nişancı, Celalzade Mustafa. The latest event recorded by the present copy is the death of Sultan Bayezit, son of Süleyman, which took place in Muharrem 969 AH (September-October 1561 CE; f 111v). This appears to have been the date of composition of the work. Other copies of the same work bring the history down to taking of Sziget in 973 AH (1566 CE), or the death of Süleyman in 974 AH (1566 CE), or even to 988-89 AH (1580-82 CE), although these last entries cannot be attributed to the author. The contents of this section of the work are largely the same as those found in Add MS 7871, with the exception of an additional eulogy for the author found at the start of the work;. ff 127v-204v : Fusul-i hall u akit usul-i harç u nakit, a sketch of the rise and fall of the principal dynasties of West Asia by Ali (Mustafa İbn-i Ahmet). The author, who died in 1008 AH (1599-1600 CE), names in the preface Mehmet Han İbn-i Murat Han as the reigning Sultan, and says that he extracted the present work, in 1007 AH (1598-99 CE), from his universal history, Genet ul-ahbar, on the composition of which he had been engaged for the last six years. This copy contains all the rubrics. The manuscript was copied by Mehmet İbn-i Şaaban Halife-yi Silahdaran and completed on 18 Safer 1118 AH (1 June 1706 CE).

Unrestricted

Acquired from the collection of Alexandre Jaba.

See Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 26.

Other copies of the first text can be found in Or 7290, Or 9865, Or 12973 text I, Or 14082, and Add MS 7871 text 1. Other copies of the second text can be found in Or 1130 text 2, Or 7318, and Add MS 7870 text 4. For more information on the author of text 1, see Haj. Khal. II, pp 132, 154 (where the work is called Tarih-i Ramazanzade and Tarih-i Nişancı). See also Ali's Kunhu'l-ahbar, Or 32, f 214; and Peçevi, Volume I, p. 44. For more information about Ali, author of text 2, see Hammer, Geschichte des Osmanlisches Reiches IV, p. 651; and Geschichte des Osmanlisches Dichtkunsts III, p. 115.