Estimate
€ 200 - 400
Aggiudicato
Current bid Starting bid
€ 200
Your offer is the highest Your bid doesn't meet the reserve price La tua offerta è stata superata(0 bids, reserve not met)
At auction on Wednesday 12 November 2025 at 15:00
Information
Venice, Andrea Poletti, 1688. 12°, 140 x 75 mm. Engraving on the title page, 4 folded leaves with musical notations at the end of the volume, missing leaves F6-7 and F11-12 (blank), modern cardboard binding, red edges. A perfect copy.
Specialist Notes
First edition of the first modern survey of "Turkish literature" published . Extremely rare.
The book is a survey of Ottoman studies in the fields of grammar, poetry, logic, mathematics, geometry, optics, music, medicine, herbal alchemy, chemistry, history, politics, geography, and devotion, interspersed with translations prepared by the Venetian dragoman Gianrinaldo Carli (who also translated Katib Çelebi into Italian) and other dragoman apprentices. The book concludes with an exhortation to translate more books from Turkish, Persian, and Arabic. The nominal author, Giovanni Battista Donà, had been Venetian bailo (resident consul) in Istanbul from 1680 to 1684, but the book is the fruit of a large collection and translation project undertaken by a group of young dragoman apprentices who worked under Donà in the Venetian embassy in Istanbul. The German philosopher Leibniz, passing through Venice in 1690, observed that On Literature was the only “new” title he had discovered there.
The book is a survey of Ottoman studies in the fields of grammar, poetry, logic, mathematics, geometry, optics, music, medicine, herbal alchemy, chemistry, history, politics, geography, and devotion, interspersed with translations prepared by the Venetian dragoman Gianrinaldo Carli (who also translated Katib Çelebi into Italian) and other dragoman apprentices. The book concludes with an exhortation to translate more books from Turkish, Persian, and Arabic. The nominal author, Giovanni Battista Donà, had been Venetian bailo (resident consul) in Istanbul from 1680 to 1684, but the book is the fruit of a large collection and translation project undertaken by a group of young dragoman apprentices who worked under Donà in the Venetian embassy in Istanbul. The German philosopher Leibniz, passing through Venice in 1690, observed that On Literature was the only “new” title he had discovered there.
Contact
Condition report
To request a Condition Report, please contact libriestampe@finarte.it
The department will provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Please note that what Finarte declares with respect to the state of conservation of the objects corresponds only to a qualified opinion and that we are not professional conservators or restorers.
We urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. We always suggest prospective buyers to inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition during the exhibition days as indicated in the catalog.
Suggested lots
Caricamento lotti suggeriti...
More Lots
254
Francisco Cañes
Gramatica Arabigo-Española, vulgar, y literal. With an Arabigo-Español dictionary, where the most..., 1776
Estimate € 300 - 500
Starting bid € 300
255
Viaggi - Medioriente - Rooke, Henry
Travels to the Coast of Arabia Felix; and from then by the red-Sea and Egypt, to Europe, 1788
Estimate € 80 - 150
Starting bid € 80
256
François Pétis de La Croix
History of the Sultana of Persia and the Viziers. Turkish Tales, 1785
Estimate € 150 - 250
Starting bid € 150
257
