Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection






The IRCICA Library is home to many rare printed books. Among these are the first Latin translations of the Holy Quran, İbrahim MÜteferrika prints, lithographic books and some rare books written in Western languages. In this collection of books in various languages such as Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Persian, English, French and Latin, the following are noteworthy:
- Latin translation of the Holy Quran: Machvmetis saracenorum principis, eius que svccessorvm vitae, doctrina, ac ipse Alcoran, Zurich, 1550.
- French history book: Guillaume Postel, Des Histoires orientales et principalement des Turkes ou Turchikes et Schitiques ou Tartaresques et aultres qui en sont descendues, Oeuvrepour la tierce foisaugmente, Paris, 1575.
- Dutch travelogue: Ongelukkige voyagie van Michiel Heberer, Van Bretten: door verscheyde gedeeltens van Asia en Africa in het jaar 1582, en vervolgens, Leyden, 1706.
- Latin astronomy book: Eustachij Manfredij, Ephemerides motuum coelestium: ex anno MDCCXV in annum MDCCXXV e cassinianis tabulis, Bologna, 1715.
- The first book printed in Ottoman Turkish: Mehmed b. Mustafa Vankulu, Lügat-i Vankulu, Istanbul, 1141/1729.
- The first official newspaper of the Ottoman Empire: Takvîm-i Vekâyi, Istanbul, from 1247/1831.
- The first Mushaf officially printed in the Ottomans: Şekerzâde Mushaf-ı Şerîfi, Istanbul, 1291/1874.
The IRCICA manuscript collection contains more than three hundred works in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Chagatai, and French. This collection, which consists of manuscripts on various subjects related to Islamic civilization, especially religion, history, and literature, includes important manuscripts with characteristics such as being single copies or early dated. Among these manuscripts, which are obtained from collectors such as Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad al-Qassimi, Erkul Işın, Sadeddin Karamehmet, Şehnaz İyibaş, and Vedat Eldem, the oldest dated is the following Persian book:
- Hasan b. Abdülmümin el-Hoyî, Kitâb-ı kenzü’l-letâyif fî mârifeti’l-zarâyif, 734/1334.