Our Notes & References

The first publication, with extensive scholarly comments, of an important 16th-c. manuscript on Constantinople and Hagia Sophia.

Smirnov (1846-1922), is considered the founder of Russian osmanistika, He “was the first Russian Turkologist to make the study of the language, literature and history of the Ottoman Empire his main speciality. His Sketch of the History of Turkish Literature was the first work to cover Turkish literature from its origins to its present state (at the time of its publication). In particular, it was the first to describe Turkish poetry in detail” (Kozintsev, our translation). He played a significant role in establishing the field of Ottoman and Turkish studies in Russia and also conducted research on the political history of the Crimean Khanate.

During his tenure at the Russian Public Library in Saint Petersburg, he was among the first to describe and catalogue the Turkish manuscripts housed in the library.

Smirnov studies here in detail and publishes for the first time an important Ottoman manuscript kept in the British Library (which he visited in 1896), which came from the collection formed by Robert Harley (1661-1724) and his son Edward (1689-1741), Earls of Oxford. Dating from the late 16th century, the ms. Harleian 5500 is an Ottoman collection of wonder stories following Ibn Rustah’s (d. after 903) Persian account; in particular, the manuscript dedicates it longest section (fols. 23-32) to Constantinople, detailing in particular the grandeur of the city’s churches, the opulence of the Emperor’s court, the creation of talismans within the city by the sage Bulniyas (Apollonius), and making reference to the number of Muslim captives detained there.

Smirnov chose to publish the original Ottoman and its (first) Russian translation, including also reproductions of some of its miniatures. As stated on th eupper wrapper, the large-format publication was timed to coincide with the opening of the 11th International Congress of Orientalists in Paris in September 1897.

Bibliography

M.A. Kozintsev, Vasilii Dmitrievich Smirnov, online article from the Institut Vostochnykh Rukopisei, Ross; Akadem. Nauk.

Cf. Rieu, Charles Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, 1888, pp. 104-105.