The Present State of the Ottoman Empire. Containing the maxims of the Turkish Politie, the most material points of the Mohametan religion, their sects and heresies, their convents and religious votaries, their military dicipline, with an exact computation of their forces both by land and sea.

RYCAUT, Paul.

Published by London John Starkey and Henry Brome, 1670

Third edition; small folio (32 x 20 cm); engraved frontispiece, two engraved plates showing eight subjects and 19 in-text engravings, two bookplates and inscription to pastedown, discreet nineteenth-century ownership inscription to title, bookplates and pencil inscription to front pastedown; contemporary full speckled calf, gilt ruled borders with floret corners to boards, board edges rolled in gilt, spine in six gilt ruled compartments, later manuscript paper lettering piece, all edges speckled red, some minor restoration to spine, otherwise a near fine copy; [12], 216 pp. The copy of Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942), prominent figure of the Arts and Crafts movement and founder of the Survey of London, Gerald de Gaury (1897-1984), noted Arabist author and one of the first to enter Riyadh in 1935 to present Ibn Sa'ud with the Order of the Bath, and presumably Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003), important writer on the Mash Arabs of Iraq (although it is impossible to ascertain his ownership). The author, Sir Paul Rycaut, was the leading authority of his day on the Ottoman Empire. The present book was extremely important and influential and provides the fullest account of Ottoman government and society during the seventeenth century. Rycaut went to Constantinople in 1661 as secretary to the Ambassador to the Porte, Heneage Finch. In 1667, Rycaut was appointed Consul in Smyrna, where he resided for eleven years. His information on the Ottoman Empire was taken from several sources including original records. The engravings in the text depict Turkish costume: they are after the kiyafet or costume book which Rycaut had commissioned from an anonymous artist of the bazaar in Constantinople. These were a popular collector's item for visitors to Turkey; they could be kept in book form or disbound for framing. The illustrations done for Rycaut were unusually good examples of the genre, lively, and subsequently much copied. Atabey 1076; cf. Blackmer 1463; ESTC R18036. Seller Inventory # 121261

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Present State of the Ottoman Empire. ...
Publisher: London John Starkey and Henry Brome
Publication Date: 1670
Binding: Hardcover