Add MS 7890

This volume contains the following six texts in Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic :

(I) ff 1v-36r : A model letter collection for the use of military officers. It contains models of letters by Zağarcıbaşılar, Çorbacıbaşılar, Turnacıbaşıları, and others to the Kâya Bey, or the Ağa of Janissaries, and vice versa. It also has letters to relatives and friends. It includes a copy of a letter by Murat Paşa, Beylerbeyi of Buda (1060-65 AH/1650-55 CE) to a Çorbacıbaşı in the margin of f 1v ;

(II) ff 31v-66v : Forms of address to the Sultan, Grand Vezir, Beylerbeyiler, and Ağalar; to friends and relatives; also models of letters for various occasions. It includes two historical documents: (1) a copy of a letter of Sultan Murat IV to Shah Safi, written from Diyarbakır (Amed) after the taking of Baghdad in Şeval 1048 AH (February 1639 CE) (f 55r); and (2) Treaty of Peace with Persia negotiated by the Ottoman plenipotentiaries Grand Vezir Sılahdar Mustafa Paşa and Saruhan, on 14 Muharrem 1049 AH (17 May 1639 CE) (f 56v). At the end, there are a few models of Persian letters (f 58r) and some forms of declarations to be made by non-believers, particularly Jews, on embracing Islam (f 65r). The date of compilation, 1082 AH (1671-72 CE), occurs on both ff 58r and 66v ;

(III) ff 68v-73r : A vocabulary of Arabic words used in letters and official writings, with the heading Muşkilat-i inşayat ve berat ve hukm-i şerif ve defter ;

(IV) ff 73v-82r : Miftahü'l-hesap, a treatise on bookkeeping by Derviş Bihişt Saruhanı, consisting of three chapters: (1) on the calendar and numerical figures (f 74r); (2) on the conventional notation of measures, quantities, prices, etc. in Defatir (f 76v); and (3) on the registering of revenue and expenditures (f 78v). The dates 963 AH (1555-56 CE), 969 AH (1561-62 CE), 973 AH (1565-66 CE), all of which occur in the examples given on ff 75-79, approximately indicate the time of composition. The author is called simply Derviş Saruhanı in the heading ;

(V) ff 84r-119v : Risale-yi ken'aniye, an arithmetic treatise in twelve fusul, by Yusuf İbn-i Mehmet, known as Katibü'l-muşahere. It is a full exposition of arithmetical operations and their application to weights and measures. The last two chapters, which, according to the preface, treated of taxes, customs dues, etc. and of the calendar and bookkeeping, are wanting ;

(VI) ff 120-139r : İlm-i kiyafet ve firaset, a treatise on physiognomy without the name of the author provided. The author describes this treatise as a translation from Arabic and Persian works, and names Fakhr Rāẓī and Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-ᶜArabī as their chief authorities. The contents of this text are: Mukaddime. On traditional and rational arguments in support of the science of physiognomy (f 120v); Bab. On the various parts of the human body, from head to foot, and the inferences to be drawn from their conformation (f 123v). A treatise on chiromancy divided into a Mukaddime and six ebvap. with four diagrams of the hand (f 127v).

The majority of the items within this volume appear to have been copied around 1082 AH (1672-73 CE).