Ottoman Literature

Scottish orientalist Elias John Wilkinson Gibb had a gift for languages and his early enthusiasm for eastern tales such as the “Thousand and One Nights” led him to the study of Arabic, Persian and especially the Ottoman Turkish languages and literature. A dedicated and able scholar of independent means, Gibb soon became a distinguished and highly regarded Ottomanist. In 1879, whilst still a young man of only twenty-two, he published his translation into English of the Ottoman capture of Constantinople, originally written by the historian Sadettin Hoca in his Taj-ut-tevarikh, which narrates the history of the Ottoman Empire from its foundation until the end of the reign of Selim I.

Other publications soon followed, including Ottoman Poems Translated into English Verse in the Original Forms (1882), a translation of the The Story of Jewad by Ali Aziz, and a translation of the History of the Forty Vezirs by Sheyhzade in 1886. He also wrote an entry on Turkish Literature for the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Surprisingly, he never travelled to Turkey or any part of the Ottoman Empire, although he spoke and wrote Turkish with a high degree of fluency. He also developed a deep knowledge and understanding of Islamic mysticism.

Gibb’s major work was A History of Ottoman Poetry (in 6 volumes, first published between 1900-1909). This work was an important achievement, being the first, and so far it seems the only, study in English of such a wide range of Ottoman poetry, and it remains a standard reference text.

Ottoman Literature is a singular work of high importance and has remained a standard source of reference for the Turkish literature.