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4to, ff. [16], manuscript on glazed paper, executed in a beautiful, small nashkī script; opening page with a panel of finely-worked illumination in colours and gold; title inset in red ink; all pages within a four-line border in red, black, and gilt; finely preserved in its slim, contemporary binding of red morocco boards; a large leopard-speckled paper panel inset on covers within a silver (oxidized) ornamental scroll; the binding a little worn at head and tail of spine; old European (?) shelf-label to lower cover; end-papers mauve or mauve-speckled opposite lightly pink paste-downs. A VERY RARE SEASONAL CALENDAR FOR THE PLANTING OF TULIPS BY A NAMED AUTHOR, SEEMINGLY A PERSONAL GARDENER UNDER, AND TO, SULTAN SELIM III. A very rare planting calendar for the wonderful, much sought after tulip, written during the reign of the enlightened Sultan Selim III (1761-1808), known for his reform-mindedness, his associations outside the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, and his endeavours to modernize and reform his state. The son of the equally progressive Sultan Mustafa III and Mihrişah Sultan, Selim was fond of literature, poetry and calligraphy, a great lover of music and one of the best composers in the Ottoman classical music tradition. When Selim succeeded his uncle Abdülhamid I (April 7, 1789), he attempted to end the social, economic, and administrative chaos facing the empire. He set up a committee of reformers (1792 93) and promulgated a series of new regulations collectively known as the nizam- i cedid ( new order ). These included reforms of provincial governorships, taxation, and land tenure. More significant were his military reforms: in addition to new military and naval schools, he founded new corps of infantry trained and equipped along European lines and financed by revenues from forfeited and escheated fiefs and by taxes on liquor, tobacco, and coffee. Finally, to provide for direct contact with the West, Ottoman embassies were opened in the major European capitals. Selim, who came to the throne during a war (1787 92) with Austria and Russia, was compelled to conclude the treaties of Sistova (Svishtov; 1791) with Austria and of Jassy (1792) with Russia. In 1798 Napoleon s invasion of Egypt drove Selim into alliance with Great Britain and Russia. After the French evacuated Egypt (1801), Selim, dazzled by Napoleon s successes in Europe, not only recognized him as emperor (1804) but also, under the influence of General Sébastiani, Napoleon s ambassador in Constantinople, declared war (1806) on Russia and Great Britain (Encyclopaedia Britannica, online). Selim was eventually strangled in 1808 on the orders of his successor, Mustafa IV. The 26-page calendar lists the varieties of tulips in red, and their colours, qualities, sizes, etc., in black ink, and by alphabetical order. Written a long time after Europe s Tulipomania of the seventeenth century, which ended in bankrupting a large number of investors, with single bulbs of certain specimens, such as the striped Semper Augustus, having been traded for extraordinary sums until the collapse of the scheme, this manuscript is rare testimony to the appreciation of this particular flower in its place of origin around the end of the eighteenth century. This is a wonderful little manuscript: a Sultan s gardener s planting calendar and on a most singular topic; finely produced and calligraphed, and in its original binding. Seller Inventory # ABE-1554330308480
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