Tuhfetü'l-zaman ve haridetü'l-avan - تحفة الزمان و خريدة الاوان

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Add MS 7896
  • Dates of Creation
    • 18th century
  • Language of Material
    • Turkish
  • Physical Description
    • 1 text 182 ff Materials : Paper. Foliation : European, 182 ff. Dimensions : 191 mm x 127 mm. Ruling : Red-ruled margins. Script : Nesih.

Scope and Content

This volume contains a cosmographical work by Mustafa İbn-i Ali, Muvakkıt of the Sultan Selim Camii in İstanbul. The preface is mainly taken up with a general review of all the subjects expounded in the work. It is cut short in the present copy by the loss of one or more leaves after f 4. The rest of the preface (f 5r onward) contains a mention of Süleyman Han İbn-i Sultan Selim Han as the reigning sovereign, the title of the work, and a statement of its division into three sections (kısımlar) and of the authorities followed in each. The subjects of the three kısımlar are as follows: (ff 5v-33r) Spheres and heavenly bodies; (ff 33v-106v) The earth and its divisions, seas, islands, rivers, springs, wells, mountains, and their wonders; (ff 107r-175r) The seven climates; length of days in each and in the principal cities; distances of the cities. At the end of III Kısım is a chapter on the method for determining the proper times of prayers and fasts, which is imperfect at the end (ff 175v-182v). The authorities mentioned in the text are:. (Kısım I) Çegmini with the commentaries of Kadızade Rumi and Seyit; Tebsire and the Tezkire, with the commentaries of Seyit and of Nizamuddin Areç, and Nihayetü'l-İdrak. . (Kısım II) Tuḥfat al-ᶜajā'ib by Ibn al-Athīr, ᶜajā'ib al-makhlūqāt by Qazvīnī, Kharīdat al--ᶜajā'ib by Ibn Wardī, Ḥayāt al-Ḥaywān by Damīrī, Nuzhat al Qulūb by Ḥamdallah Qazvīnī and Ptolemy's Geography. The present work is mentioned as one of the sources of the Cihannüma (preface, p. 12, and Haj. Khal. II, p. 227). The date of composition is not stated, but the dates of other works by the same author, which range from 935 AH to 960 AH (1528-54 CE), sufficiently fix the period in which he lived. The manuscript also carries the title Tercüme-yi Haridetü'l-Acayıp li-Fazıl Selimi on the first page of the text. This manuscript was likely copied in the 18th century CE.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Sir Claudius Rich.

Other Finding Aids

See Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, pp. 109-10.

Related Material

Other works by Mustafa İbn-i Ali can be found at Or 9829, Or 12094, Or 12736 text 4, Or 13413, Or 16233 texts 8-10, and Add MS 7892. Another text of Mustafa İbn-i Ali's entitled the Tuhfetü'l-mecalis appears to contains the substance of III Kısım in an abridged form. See Add MS 7892 text III, Krafft, p. 133, and Vienna Catalogue II, p. 427. For more information on the author, see Vienna Catalogue II, p. 496; and Haj. Khal. II, p. 485.