Ṣoḳollu Meḥmed Paşa, 1505-1579

A compliation of five works (three in Ottoman Turkish and one in side-by-side Persian and Latin, and one solely in Persian) in two, perhaps three different hands. The hand of the bilingual Persian/Latin section is that of Jacob Golius, though all hands betray diggering degrees of non-native familiarity with the Arabic script, and all items are written on paper originating around the year 1670 of European (likely Dutch or English) origin. The first item is a thin paste-in leaf with a torn edge pasted on one small side upside-down vis-a-vis the remaining text, which can be flipped over to read the text on the back of the paste-in. It gives a list of major cities on the road from Aleppo to Istanbul in Turkish. The second item (folios 1b-40b) consists of excerpts on North Africa, Syria, Egypt, Spain, and France from the Turkish version of سپاهی‌زاده محمد بن علی Sipāhīzāde Mollā Meḥmed bin ‘Alī 's geographical work titled اوضح المسالك الی معرفة البلدان والممالك Evżaḥu l-mesālik ilā ma‘rifeti l-büldān ve-l-memālik . The translation is dedicated to سلطان مراد الثانی Sulṭān Murād es̠-s̠ānī (i.e. Murad III, Sultan of the Turks, 1546-1595 ) and Ṣadra‘ẓam صوقوللی محمد پاشا Ṣoḳollu Meḥmed Paşa, 1505-1579 . It is styled in Latin on the first flyleaf ( flyleaf ia) and last (folio 41(iii)b) pages Geographica Africana Turcice. The third item (folios 41a-56b) is an anonymous tract describing the known inhabited continents at the time, followed by selections of major countries along with statistical and ethnographical remarks. It is styled in Latin on the first page ( folios 41a) and in the sale catalogue through which this manuscript was acquired as Compendium Cosmographicum, Turcice conscriptum . The fourth item consists of unidentified pieces of poetry and prose, mostly in Persian with occasional bits of Ottoman Turkish, of which large sections are translated (occasionally summarised or paraphrased) on the parallel halves of the same pages into Latin by Jacob Golius. In the sections without translations, the Persian text is only written on the lefthand side of each page with considerable blank space to the right, suggesting these were also meant to be translated. There are five blank pages in this section, but though the hand of the Persian varies slightly throughout in size and style, the hand of the Latin remains consistent, suggesting that this was one work by the same, non-native Persophone author who changed or developed their hand over the course of writing, or in any case notes compiled by the same author. There is no title given for the work itself, but the sale catalogue lists the item in Latin as Adagia Persica, plurimus in locis cum interpretatione Jacobi Golii at the end of the first section before the blank pages, though there is no indication that this is intended as the title for the whole item, nor indeed of the whole first section. The fifth item is a copy of the مفتاح الخزاٸن Miftāḥ al-khazā'in of حاجی زین العطار Ḥājī Zayn al-‘aṭṭār , being an original, redacted adaptation (based on an unknown version) of Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης Pedanius Dioscorides's Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς De materia medica. Styled in Latin on folio 89a clavis bibliothecæ. Thesaúrus. persice.beneath the Persian/Arabic title and clavis sive Thesaurus Bibliothecæ, Persice in the sale catalogue. — Multiple dates MS. Marsh 454