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[BEAUTIFUL OTTOMAN BINDING] Divân-ı Zâtî [i.e. Diwan of Zati]

Zati, Suleyman

Istanbul: Takvimhane-i Âmire Typ. 1841. Item #388

89 pp. (numbered in Eastern Arabic system). 24x15,5 cm. Text in Ottoman Turkish within a double border, first text pages (pp. 2-3) decorated with hand coloured floral ornament and gold painted frames. Paper with a later ink note in Ottoman Turkish loosely inserted. Very handsome contemporary Ottoman full leather with elaborate gilt tooled decorative frames and ornaments on both boards, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Binding slightly rubbed on the spine, paper slightly age toned, otherwise a beautiful copy.

First edition. Very rare Ottoman imprint with only two paper copies located in Worldcat. A beautiful bibliophile copy of the first edition of the famous ‘‘Diwan of Zati’’, a collection of 144 poems composed in traditional Ghazail style by Suleyman Zati (1471-1546), a prominent Ottoman 16th century poet. Born in Gallipoli, a boot maker by origin, he became a court poet and a literature teacher in medrese under the auspices of the Ottoman court. Aşık Çelebi (1520-1572), a great Turkish poet, and a close friend of Zati, stated that his real name was Ivaz, but the historiography knows him under the name of Suleyman Zati Efendi.

Zati’s works are characterized by sincere and simple style with mystical and allegoric features. Zati’s success and his poetic legacy refutes the idea of elite – centered high – style verse in Turkish tradition. Main aspects of Zati’s poetry are religion, supernatural power in the world, concepts of peace, pleasure, happiness of people; some of his verses devoted to romantic ideals of his time, i.e. To Roksolana (1501-1558), a wife of Suleyman the Magnificent. Ghazail verse usually consists of about 5 or 15 lines, divided in autonomous parts. It first appeared in the 12th century in Arabia, and then spread further to Persia and then Ottoman Empire. The original manuscript from the Suleymaniye Library was prepared for publication by Muhammad Na’il. The first lines contain the remembrance of Baki (1526-1600), famous Ottoman poet and Zati’s protégé.

Özege 4246.

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