Histoire de l'Empire ottoman depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours. Ouvrage puisé aux sources les plus authentiques et rédigé sur des documens et des manuscrits la plupart inconnus en Europe. Traduit de l'allemand sur les notes et sous la direction de l'auteur par J.-J. Hellert

First edition of the French translation (cf. Atabey, 557 (text) and 569 (atlas). Blackmer, 788 (atlas). Hage Chahine, 2105.)

Contemporary half brown shagreen, spines uniformly sunned and faded, raised bands framed with black fillets, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers, gilt edges; a few lightly rubbed corners, one small defect to the foot of the edges of the fifteenth volume.

Some light foxing in the text volumes.

The atlas volume, folio, is issued in parts under ten beige paper wrappers with printed blue labels; the wrapper of part 6 is lacking; the general map of the Ottoman Empire has been restored in the final part; light foxing to the covers.

The original German edition was published in Budapest in ten volumes between 1827 and 1835. The illustrations comprise thirty-nine maps and plans—principally battle plans—prepared by the translator J. J. Hellert. The text includes eight folding genealogical tables of Ottoman princes and high dignitaries.

Joseph von Hammer, a renowned Austrian orientalist and diplomat, was born in Graz (Styria) in 1774. He entered the Royal Academy of Oriental Languages in Vienna, where he studied Turkish, Persian and Arabic. In 1799 he undertook his first journey to Constantinople; the following year he joined the British admiral Sidney Smith in the campaign against the French in Egypt as interpreter and translator. He attended the grand vizier’s council at Jaffa and the surrender of Alexandria. In 1802 he became secretary to the Austrian legation in Constantinople, from which he travelled into Asia Minor and Greece. Posted in 1806 to the consulate-general at Jassy in Moldavia, he was appointed interpreter at the Viennese chancellery in 1807. In 1817 he rose to the rank of court councillor. After inheriting the estates of the Counts of Purgstall, he added their name to his own and was created baron in 1835. He translated numerous oriental works into German and played a major role in the founding of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, serving as its first president from 1848 to 1849. He died in Vienna in 1856. "Aucun orientaliste avant lui n'a connu plus intimement les peuples musulmans et n'a autant contribué à nous faire connaître leurs mœurs, leur histoire et leur littérature […]. Il passa trente ans à réunir les documents [de son Histoire de l'Empire ottoman], qu'il a tirée de manuscrits orientaux et des archives de Saint-Marc à Venise, de celles de Vienne, et de tous les ouvrages publiés en Europe sur l'Empire ottoman" (Hoefer, XXIII, 259-267). Provenance: S. H. Weiss bookshop in Constantinople, located on the Grande Rue de Pera opposite the Russian consulate (label in each text volume).

Rare work. 

Collation of the set: Text: 1) 2 ff.n.ch., XXXV, 436 pp. – 2) 2 ff.n.ch., 530 pp., 1 f.n.ch. (errata for vols. 1 and 2), 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 1 and 2). – 3) VIII, 1 f.n.ch. (errata for vol. 3), 460 pp. – 4) 2 ff.n.ch., 476 pp., 3 ff.n.ch. (supplement to the errata for vol. 1; supplement to the errata for vol. 2; errata for vol. 4), 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 3 and 4). – 5) 2 ff.n.ch., VII, 558 pp. – 6) 2 ff.n.ch., 536 pp., 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 5 and 6). – 7) VIII, 439 pp. – 8) 2 ff.n.ch., 435 pp., 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 7 and 8). – 9) 2 ff.n.ch., 424 pp. – 10) 2 ff.n.ch., VII, 495 pp., 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 9 and 10). – 11) 2 ff.n.ch., IV, 491 pp. – 12) 2 ff.n.ch., 554 pp., 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 11 and 12). – 13) 2 ff.n.ch., IV, 391 pp. – 14) 2 ff.n.ch., 543 pp., 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 13 and 14). – 15) 2 ff.n.ch., 405 pp. – 16) 2 ff.n.ch., 507 pp., 1 folding h.t. table (genealogical tables of the princes and high dignitaries mentioned in vols. 15 and 16). – 17) 2 ff.n.ch., XLVIII, 294 pp. – 18) 2 ff.n.ch., 144 pp. and pp. 137–398. – Atlas: 2 ff.n.ch. (title dated 1843, table of maps and plans), 39 h.t. plates (numbered I to XXXIX; plates II and III forming a single map printed on two sheets), in ten parts.

One atlas volume, folio, issued in ten beige paper portfolios with printed blue labels; the wrapper to part 6 is lacking; the general map of the Ottoman Empire restored in the final part; light foxing to the covers.

Detailed collation of the atlas parts available on request.