Arundel Or 18

This volume contains the collected poetry of Mesihi, a native of Prishtina (contemporary Republic of Kosova). He was employed as the secretary of the Divan under Grand Vezir Ali Paşa (Hadim Ali, who held the post of Grand Vezir 907-09 AH/1502-05 CE and again 912-17 AH/1507-13 CE). He attained a high rank as a lyrical poet and died in 918 AH (1513-14 CE).

The Divan differs from the text found at Or 1152 largely through its omission of the kasideler. Its contents are as follows:

ff 1v-12v : Şehrengiz, a mesnevi;

ff 12v-74v : Gazeller in alphabetical order. The first gazel of this copy is the seventh gazel in Or 1152, and the first gazel of Or 1152 is omitted in the current manuscript. At the end are five verses due to the copyist Mehmet, which contain the date of transcription as 20 Rebiülahir 938 AH (1 December 1531 CE).

The text contains two unvans.

Two additional leaves (ff 75-76) contain a kaside addressed to the Nişanci Cafer (Taczade) by a contemporary of Mesihi, the poet Zati, who died in old age in 953 AH (1546-47 CE).