Completion of Cihannüma Restoration

UPDATE

Turkish Cultural Foundation and Chester Beatty Library Conserve One of the Earliest Turkish Printed Books

Turkish Cultural Foundation (TCF) is delighted to announce the completion of a project with the Chester Beatty Library in Ireland to conserve one of the earliest printed books in Turkish.
The Cihan-nüma (Mirror of the World, 1732) was written by the Ottoman Turkish scholar Katip Çelebi, and printed by İbrahim Müteferrika. Published in İstanbul, the Chester Beatty's rare and complete copy of the Cihan-nüma has survived with all of its original 13 astronomical and 26 geographical maps intact. The ambitious text summarised Ottoman geographical knowledge of the time and is one of the earliest books printed in Turkey in Turkish.

Due to the importance of Cihan-nüma, the Chester Beatty approached TCF for support in late 2017. Deeming the project in line with its mission to preserve Turkey's cultural heritage, TCF provided a grant for the conservation of the book.

Fionnuala Croke, Director, Chester Beatty said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with the Turkish Cultural Foundation on this project. This is one of the most impressive early printed books in the collection and the TCF's support of the conservation treatment has enabled us to put the Cihan-nüma on display, playing an important role in deepening the understanding and appreciation of Turkish cultural heritage in Ireland." 

Dr. Yalçın Ayaslı, founder and Chairman of the Turkish Cultural Foundation stated: "We are pleased to see the results of the project by the Chester Beatty Library to conserve this valuable publication. The conservation of the book will now allow visitors from all across the world to view it at the Chester Beatty. Moreover, researchers will now be able handle the book without damaging it."
As a result of the conservation project which took over a year, the damaged pages were treated and carefully re-sown into a new binding that will allow the volume to be safely handled for generations to come.

Kitab-ı Cihan-nüma is now on exhibition at the Chester Beatty Library's Arts of the Book Gallery. Visitors can view this magnificent volume and the exquisite detail of the Map of the Indian Ocean and China Sea.

The Chester Beatty Library is a museum and library that houses the world-class collection of Islamic, East Asian and European art assembled by the American philanthropist and collector Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968).

Founded in 2000 by Dr. Yalçın and Dr. Serpil Ayaslı, the Turkish Cultural Foundation is a U.S. tax-exempt public charitable organization with offices in Boston, Washington, D.C. and Istanbul, Turkey. Financed through a Trust established by the Ayaslı family and private donations, the mission of TCF is to support the preservation and promotion of Turkish culture and heritage worldwide.

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The Turkish Cultural Foundation (TCF)  announced a grant to and new partnership with the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland.

Mavi Boncuk | 

Katib Çelebi’s Cihan-numa (Mirror of the World, ) was printed by Ibrahim Müteferrika in Constantinople in 1732, and summarised Ottoman geographical knowledge of the time. It was one of the first texts to be published by Müteferrika, founder of the first official Ottoman printing house in Turkey.


The partnership will ensure the preservation of one of the earliest printed books in Turkish: the Kitab-ı Cihannüma (Mirror of the World, 1732) by the Ottoman Turkish scholar Kâtip Çelebi and printed by Ibrahim Müteferrika.
Described by the Lonely Planet as 'not just the best museum in Dublin, but one of the best in Europe', the Chester Beatty Library is a museum and library that houses the world-class collection of Islamic, East Asian and European art assembled by the great American philanthropist and collector Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968).

Kâtip Çelebi is the pen name of Mustafa bin Abdullah (1609-1657), also later known as Haji Khalifa (Hacı Halife), who was an Ottoman historian and geographer and is regarded as one of the most productive authors of non-religious, scientific literature in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire. He began writing the Cihannüma in 1654, expanding on it over the years but unable to complete a second edition due to his untimely death.

Ibrahim Müteferrika (c.1674-1745), who printed the Cihannüma, played a special role in the story of printing in the Islamic world. A Hungarian, whose early life remains something of a mystery, Müteferrika became a senior figure at the imperial Ottoman court. Today he is remembered as the founder of the first official Ottoman printing house in Turkey. In 1727 he secured an edict from Sultan Ahmed III permitting him to print works of a non-religious nature. Subsequently, between 1729 and 1742 his press published 17 books, of which the Chester Beatty Library holds 13. [1]

Published in 1732 in Istanbul, the Chester Beatty Library's rare and complete copy of the Cihannüma has survived with all of its original 13 astronomical and 26 geographical maps intact. The ambitious text summarised Ottoman geographical knowledge of the time and is one of the earliest books printed in Turkey in Turkish.

Due to the importance of this volume, it was included in a recent Chester Beatty publication 'Director's Choice', at which time it was apparent that the book required extensive conservation and the Library approached the Turkish Cultural Foundation for support.

The book was tightly bound in an unsympathetic 19th-century binding which placed a strain on the pages each time the volume was opened. Over the centuries, with repeated use, the green copper-based pigment used to frame the printed maps had gradually burnt through the paper, causing most of the folios to split along this line. The support provided by the Turkish Cultural Foundation will enable the conservators at the Chester Beatty to re-sew the carefully conserved pages, reinforce the structure of the book and rebind the volume in an Islamic style binding that will allow the volume to be safely handled and displayed.

Fionnuala Croke, Director, Chester Beatty Library said: We are delighted to partner with the Turkish Cultural Foundation on this project. This is one of the most impressive early printed books in the collection and the TCF's support of the conservation treatment will enable us to put the Cihannüma on display, playing an important role in deepening the understanding and appreciation of Turkish cultural heritage in Ireland. 

Dr. Yalcin Ayasli, founder and Chairman of the Turkish Cultural Foundation stated: "We are pleased to provide support to the Chester Beatty Library in the preservation of this valuable publication. Kitab-ı Cihannüma carries historic significance as the sheds light on the scholarly accomplishments of Katip Celebi and his life-long efforts to spread scientific knowledge in the Ottoman Empire and beyond."

[1] Ibrahim Müteferrika and Ottoman Incunabula [*]

MCGill University (Montreal, Canada) Rare Books and Special Collections possesses 14 of the 23 publications of the Basma Khāne. All of these are on display, each one showing different aspects of the artistic development of the press, from elegant naskh type-setting to different woodcuts for the basmala to the inclusion of maps and other images accompanying the text.

Printing by means of movable type is thought to have developed in 11th century China, after which it later spread throughout the world and had a significant impact on Europe starting in the 15th century. Its invention was a fine example of the confluence of cultural and technological developments. Movable type is created by cutting lead into individual letters, setting these on a metal frame in reverse order, and applying ink to the surface in order to transfer the information to paper. The art form of the printing press and the texts they produced — from the layout of the page to the elegant typefaces that resulted – are fundamental to the history of the arts of the book in Arabic script, whether written in Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish or Urdu.

The printing press is known to have existed in the Middle East amongst non-Muslims as early as the 16th century but it was not until 1729 that a Muslim, Ibrahim Müteferrika, began printing texts via this method. Müteferrika, based in Istanbul, secured a ferman (edict) in 1727 from Sultan Ahmed III permitting him to print works of a non-religious nature. Müteferrika’s press, called the Dârü’t-tıbâ’ati’l-ma’mûre, but more widely known as the Basma Khāne (printing house), would print 23 texts on grammar, history and other non-religious subjects over the course of its history. In total, Müteferrika produced approximately 13,000 physical volumes.

The Basma Khāne operated between 1729 and 1742 though its initial reception was greeted with trepidation. Calligraphers were the principal opposition to the printing press after the ferman had been issued. Calligraphy was seen as a pious and devotional act whereas the printing press, with its ability to mass produce texts, was regarded as a threat to the livelihood of many calligraphers.

The Basma Khāne laid the foundations for the development of moveable type printing presses in other Muslim countries, e.g., the Bulaq Press in Egypt. These presses, in response to a host of events and developments in the nineteenth century, allowed for the increased printing and dissemination of newspapers, journals, books and ephemera in the region.

[*]  A total of 17 titles have been published by Muteferrika at his own press during his lifetime :

Kitab-ı Lügat-ı Vankulu (Sihah El-Cevheri), 2 volumes, 1729
Tuhfet-ül Kibar fi Esfar el-Bihar, 1729
Tarih-i Seyyah, 1729
Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi, 1730
Tarih-i Timur Gürgan, 1730
Tarih-I Mısr-i Kadim ve Mısr-i Cedid, 1730
Gülşen-i Hülefa, 1730
Grammaire Turque, 1730
Usul el-Hikem fi Nizam el-Ümem, 1732
Fiyuzat-ı Mıknatısiye, 1732
Cihan-nüma, 1732
Takvim el-Tevarih, 1733
Kitab-ı Tarih-i Naima, 2 volumes, 1734
Tarih-i Raşid, 3 volumes, 1735
Tarih-i Çelebizade, 1741
Ahval-i Gazavat der Diyar-ı Bosna, 1741
Kitab-ı Lisan el-Acem el Müsemma bi-Ferheng-i Şuuri, 2 volumes, 1742

(Most of the copies of the book Tarih-i Çelebizade have been bound into the third and last volume of Tarih-i Raşid and sold together with it and thus have erroneously led several sources to believe a total of 16 items have been published.)