BOYD, Charles.

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[Türk tercümanı, ya Türk lisanin sarf-i cedid] The Turkish Interpreter, or a New Grammar of the Turkish Language. First edition. A comprehensive grammar of Ottoman Turkish and additional transliteration to aid pronunciation, also with dialogues, fables, and portions of the New Testament. Scarce, with only one copy traced at auction. The Spectator lauded the work as "a distinct and useful grammar. There is nothing superfluous about it to encumber the learner in his first efforts... The author has very properly adopted the French vowel pronunciation, as best adapted to convey a notion of the Turkish vowel sounds... The vocabulary is copious and well-selected" (p. 402). The author was likely Major Charles Boyd of Kilmarnock, Scotland, who was in the 90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers). The regiment sailed for Malta in October 1820 and then on to the Ionian Islands in October 1821 before returning home in 1830. The preface notes: "'The Turkish Interpreter' was composed during the years 1824, 1825, 1826, whilst the Author was residing on the shores of the Black-Sea; the work was originally intended as a private reference to assist him in keeping up the knowledge". Provenance: ownership inscription on the title page, "Charles G. Lock, Dardanelles, July 1873". This seems likely to be Charles George Warnford Lock (1853-1909), editor of Tobacco: Growing, Curing, & Manufacturing: A Handbook for Planters in All Parts of the World (1886), which includes detail of tobacco pro

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