Tercume-yi Kâbusname - ترجمۀ قابوسنامه

This volume contains an Ottoman Turkish translation of the Qābūsnāmah, a book on morals, written by Kaykāʾūs Ibn Iskandar Ibn Qābūs for his son Gīlānshāh. This version was translated by Nazmizade Murteza. There are three Ottoman Turkish translations of the Kâbusname. The earliest, mentioned in Mercumek's preface, without date or translator's name, is probably lost. The second was written for Sultan Murad II and completed, as stated at the end of this manuscript, on 23 Şaban 835 AH (25 April 1432 CE). The third, contained here and in Or 7501, was translated by Nazmizade in 1117 AH (1705-06 CE). After mentioning the earlier version made for Sultan Murad Han by Ahmet İbn-i İlyas, mahlas Mercumek, Nazmizade says that in the year 1117 AH (1705-06 CE), Hasan Paşa, governor of Baghdad, finding it written in old and obsolete Ottoman Turkish, desired him to re-write it in a style better suited to modern taste. Hasan Paşa, surnamed Dilir Hasan, was appointed governor of Baghdad in 1116 AH (1704-05 CE). On the first page of the manuscript is a note relating to the death of El-Hacc Ali Efendi, Gümrükçü of Baghdad, in 1176 AH (1762 CE). The manuscript was likely copied in the early 18th century CE.

Unrestricted

Acquired from Claudius Rich.

See Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 117.

Another copy of this translation can be found at Or 7501. Copies of other translations can be found at Or 3219, Or 4130, and Or 7320. For more information on the work, please see von Diez, H. F., Denkwürdigkeiten von Asien in Künsten und Wissenschaften, Sitten, Gebräuche und Alterhümern, Religion und Regierungsverfassung, aus HSS und eigenen Erfahrungen gesammelt (Berlin: [publisher not identified], 1811-15). Copies of the Persian original can be found at Or 3252; and Leiden, Catalogue IV, p. 207.

Extracts from Mercumek's translation are given in Wickerhauser's Chrestomathie, pp. 262-65. For a version in French, see Kaykaus Ibn Iskandar Ibn Qabus, Le Cabous namè ou Livre de Cabous Onsor El Moali, souverain du Djordjan et du Guilan, ed. A. Querry (Paris: Leroux, 1885).