Vasif efend ahmed (1 risultati)

First edition of this famous Ottoman chronicle of the second half of the 18th century by the period's most celebrated historian, detailing the sweeping changes and military conflicts which affected Ottoman society on the cusp of modernity. Ahmed Vasif Efendi (c.1730-1804) was born in Baghdad, where he learned Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. He began a bureaucratic career and soon progressed to the Ottoman imperial court. Early on in his working life, he followed Ottoman forces to the front line in their battles with the Russians and was captured and taken to St Petersburg for a time. There, he witnessed Russia's military expansion first hand. Returning to Turkey, he was appointed chief scribe of the Ottoman bureaucracy in 1805. He was a major supporter of social reform. In Mehasinü'l-asar ve hakaikü'l-ahbar he proposed a new kind of historiography, centred on human choices rather than on divine will. Much of the narrative takes place against the backdrop of the Russo-Turkish wars, which led to the Russian annexation of Crimea in 1783, but the work is in fact universal in its scope, covering Ottoman foreign relations, power struggles at the court, and intellectual achievements inside the empire. Ethan L. Menchinger, "Ahmed Vâs f Efendi", Bloomsbury History: Theory and Method, 2022, accessible online. 2 vols bound in one, quarto (288 x 175 mm). Modern half sheep, spine with raised bands, gilt arabesques on spine, brown cloth sides, endleaves renewed, orange bookmarker. "Vasif" in ink on lower edge of book block; a little marginal pencilling, ink marking on front blank. Gilt slightly retouched, a few leaves possibly cleaned, occasional finger soiling, small wormholes to top margin of final 20 leaves, minor patches of loss to final blanks. A very good copy.…