[MÜLLER, HEINRICH, ed. [with] HERBERSTEIN, Sigmund von.

£13,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

A finely illustrated sammelband of uncommon German ethnographic surveys of Muscovy and the Ottoman territories. I) Translated and edited by Heinrich Müller, Türckische Historien is an adaptation of influential contemporary works on the Ottomans. The first part is based on the Italian version of the Palinodia de los Turcos by Vasco D√≠az Tanco de Fregenal (c.1490-c.1573), a Spanish humanist and polymath. It is a compendium of the history of the Turks inspired by Paolo Giovio s renowned Commentario de le cose de Turchi (Rome, 1532). Like traditional ethnographic accounts, it employs anecdotes and vivid episodes to enrich historical events, spanning the origins of the Turks and the war between Selim III, Charles V and the Serenissima. Unlike its source, this translation is handsomely illustrated with portraits of Ottoman Sultans. The second part, which bears a separate t-p and the date 1565, is based on I cinque libri della legge, religione, et vita de Turchi (Venice and Florence, 1548) by Giovan Antonio Menavino (b. 1492). It is an account of the time Menavino spent at the court of the Sultan of Constantinople after being captured by the Turks aboard a ship, and contains a wealth of information on Turkish customs, laws, religion, institutions, and army, including observations on temples, burials, and hospitals for the relief of pilgrims, travellers, the poor and sick. The third part, with a separate t-p and the date 1563, is an edition of Ursachen des Türkenkriegs (Strasbourg,

• Binding: Hardcover

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