Evliya Çelebi

This two-volume English translation of part of a longer travel narrative by the Ottoman aristocrat Evliya Çelebi (1611–c.1680) was translated by the Austrian scholar Joseph von Hammer (1774–1856) and published in 1834 by the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, set up to make 'Eastern' texts more widely available in English. Çelebi was highly educated, had served the Ottoman court both as a diplomat and as a soldier, and as he says, had in his travels 'seen the countries of eighteen monarchs and heard 147 different languages'. His lifetime encompassed the highest point of Ottoman expansion into Europe, and his indefatigable curiosity about everything he saw makes this work a fascinating assemblage of topics varying from the fountains of Istanbul to a journey to Georgia. Volume 1 includes a short biography of Çelebi and accounts of the history and architecture of his native city.

This two-volume English translation of part of a longer travel narrative by the Ottoman aristocrat Evilya Çelebi (1611–c.1680) was translated by the Austrian scholar Joseph von Hammer (1774–1856) and published in 1834 by the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, set up to make 'Eastern' texts more widely available in English. Çelebi was highly educated, had served the Ottoman court both as a diplomat and as a soldier, and as he says, had in his travels 'seen the countries of eighteen monarchs and heard 147 different languages'. His lifetime encompassed the highest point of Ottoman expansion into Europe, and his indefatigable curiosity about everything he saw makes this work a fascinating assemblage of topics varying from the fountains of Istanbul to a journey to Georgia. Volume 2 includes Çelebi's eye-witness account of the siege and conquest of Canea (Khania) in Crete in 1645.

'Evliya Çelebi was the widest-eyed, most intensely curious … and prolific travel writer the Ottoman world ever produced. A learned and perceptive gentleman-observer from courtly Istanbul at the height of its power, Evilya's work records and preserves an entire world otherwise lost to history. A proper edition of his massive work has long been overdue, and Robert Dankoff magnificently translates the highlights … a book which is likely to change for ever our perceptions of the Ottoman Empire.' — William Dalrymple