Or 14361

This volume contains one of the first mathematical texts in Ottoman Turkish, authored by Mühyiddin Mehmed ibn-i Hacı Atmaca el-Katib (also known as Hacı Atmacaoğlu Mühyiddin Mehmed). He completed the work in 899 AH/1494 CE, and dedicated it to Sultan Bayezid II (ruled 886-918 AH/1481-1512 CE).

In his introduction to the Mecmaü’l-kavaid, the author mentions the lack of an explanatory textbook in Turkish to which Ottoman administrators and other practitioners could refer. His work surveys Indian arithmetic calculations and administrative accountancy practices based on Arabic and Persian sources.

The text is organised in three divisions (şıkk, which is also a term for financial accounts of the Ottoman Empire). The first two şıkklar (on integers and fractions respectively) are made up of sixteen sections (fasıllar). The third şıkk is organised as a series of forty commonly arising problems (meseleler). It draws on the same topics discussed in the first şıkk but explains the content in a more concise, targeted fashion. Among the subjects discussed in the text are the various systems of notation for numerals; calculations involving division or multiplication; calculations in fractions; calculations in standard measures of weight, capacity or length (e.g. dirhem, müdd, zira); and methods and procedures for weighing and measuring.

The present manuscript is slightly incomplete, there being lacunae between ff 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. The parts of text missing are the end of the introduction, the list of chapters, and part or the whole of the first six fasıllar. The contents are as follows: Introduction (incomplete), 2v-3v; I şıkk (incomplete), 4r-45v; II şıkk, 45v-92r; III şıkk; bottom of 92r-137r.

Begins:

Elhamdülillahı’l-meliki’l-e‘azzi’l-ekrem ve’l-kadiri’l-hakimi’l-a‘zam ellezi ‘alleme’l-insane bi’l-kalem … Amma ba’d bu kitabın musannifi ve bu risalenin müellifi, kalilü’l-amel ve kesirü’l-emel el-abdü’l-fakir ve’l-müznibü’l-hakir, el-muhtac ila rahmeti’llahi’l-meliki’l-‘aliyyi’l-kebir el-hac Mühyiddin Mehmed ibn el-Hac Atmaca el-Katib

Ends:

Ol ecilden bu kadarda ihtisar olundu ve bu risale-i latif daha eymen-i evkatta ve eşref-i saatte vakt-i duhada ve yevm-i cumada ki ‘iyd-ı adha’ydı itmama yetişti ve bu risale daha zaman-ı ahirde zuhur bulduğu ecilden yine buna ahsen-i tarih ahir-i zaman vaki oldu, vallahü’l-muvaffık ve’l müste‘an...

The colophon on f 137r states that the copy was completed on 17 Rebiyülevvel 926 AH/7 March 1520 CE.