OTTOMAN TURKEY, 19TH CENTURY

Details

IBRAHIM HAQQI ERZURUMI (FL. AH 1170⁄1756-7 AD): MA'RIFATNAMA
OTTOMAN TURKEY, 19TH CENTURY
'The Book of Gnosis', on astronomy, Ottoman Turkish manuscript on paper, 340ff., plus three flyleaves, 33ll. of black naskh, keywords picked out and underlined in red, in red rules, catchwords, one folio with gold and polychrome illuminated headpiece, 25 polychrome diagrams and tables, colophon with later note in different hand attributing it to the hand of the author, in brown binding with flap
Text panel 8 3⁄4 x 4 5⁄8in. (22.6 x 11.8cm.); folio 12 x 7 1⁄4in. (30.4 x 18.5cm.)

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Lot Essay

This is a fine copy of the Ma'arifatnama, a cosmological encyclopaedia compiled by Ibrahim Haqqi Erzurumi in AH 1170⁄1756-57 AD. It mostly concerns eschatological topics, such as Hell, but includes intriguing planispheric maps of the Old and New Worlds. These are based on those in the Atlas Major by the Dutch cartographer Joan Bleu (1596-1673), which were well-known in the Ottoman realm in the 18th century.
Although the Ma'rifatnama was composed in 1756-57 AD, all known copies are dated to the 19th century. Another copy is in the British Library, MS.PR.12964, dated Shawwal AH 1235/July-August 1820 AD. Others were sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2018, lot 45 and Sotheby's London, 6 April 2011, lot 216.

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