size: [3], 91 pages;
printed surface: 100×160 mm;
page: 150×200 mm;
lines: 20-23;
copies: 1000.
Müteferrika’s only Western style publication, printed in Latin letters was this Turkish grammar, intended for Europeans, mainly for the future interpreters at the French embassy in Istanbul. It was perhaps because of the European author and public that this work does not figure in the list of the hitherto published books included in Târîh-i Nacîmâ (cf. item 13). The author is not mentioned by name, but he is obviously the German Jesuit missionary Jean-Baptiste Holderman, who died just a few weeks before the publication of his work. As much as it can be appreciated, this eighth publication of Müteferrika met an important demand among the French diplomatic corps and officers in Istanbul. We know from the correspondence of French ambassador Marquis de Villeneuve that it was Müteferrika to offer the printing of the grammar to the author. Instead of financial compensation, he only asked for the preparation of a Latin printing set fitting in size to the Arabic letters used in his press. In terms of the agreement previously signed with the French embassy, 200 copies were purchased by Marquis de Villeneuve for the courses of future interpreters in Paris and Istanbul at a price of 500 kuruş per copy. This was Müteferrika’s second most popular publication: of the 1000 copies only 84 were left in his bequest.
The Oriental Collection preserves an incomplete copy of the book [MTAK
shelfmark: 758.313]
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| 148-149 | 20-21 | 2-3 |
