Tercume-yi Kâbusname - ترجمۀ قابوسنامه

This volume contains an Ottoman Turkish translation of the Qābūsnāmah, a book on morals, written by Kaykāʾūs Ibn Iskandar Ibn Qābūs for his son Gīlānshāh. This version was translated by Mercumek Ahmet İbn-i İlyas. There are three Ottoman Turkish translations of the Kâbusname. The earliest, mentioned in Mercumek's preface, without date or translator's name, is probably lost. The second, present one, was written for Sultan Murad II and completed, as stated at the end of Add MS 7841, on 23 Şaban 835 AH (25 April 1432 CE). The third, contained in Add MS 7841 and Or 7501, was translated by Nazmizade in 1117 AH (1705-06 CE). Mercumek relates, in a short preamble, how he went one day to the presence of Sultan Murad Han in Edirne and was desired by him to make the present translation. The work is divided into 44 bab, a table of which is given at the end of the preface (ff 5r-6v). The original is stated at the end (f 193r) to have been written in 473 AH (1080-81 CE). The manuscript was completed on 15 Ramazan 990 AH (3 October 1582 CE).

Unrestricted

Acquired from the collection of Baron von Kremer.

See Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, pp. 116-17.

Another copy of the same translation can be found at Or 4130. Copies of other translations can be found at Or 7320, Or 7501, and Add MS 7841. For more information on the work, please see von Diez, H. F., Denkwürdigkeiten von Asien in Künsten und Wissenschaften, Sitten, Gebräuche und Alterhümern, Religion und Regierungsverfassung, aus HSS und eigenen Erfahrungen gesammelt (Berlin: [publisher not identified], 1811-15). Copies of the Persian original can be found at Or 3252; and Leiden, Catalogue IV, p. 207.

Extracts from Mercumek's translation are given in Wickerhauser's Chrestomathie, pp. 262-65. For a version in French, see Kaykaus Ibn Iskandar Ibn Qabus, Le Cabous namè ou Livre de Cabous Onsor El Moali, souverain du Djordjan et du Guilan, ed. A. Querry (Paris: Leroux, 1885).