Földvári Books

One of the First Turkish Translations of Shakespeare

Shakespeare, William

[The Comedy of Errors.] [In Ottoman Turkish:] Sehv-i Mudhik. (Kitaphane-i Ebüzziya 51–52.)

Kostantiniyye [Constantinople]: Matbaa-i Ebüzziya, 1304 AH [1886/1887 AD]. First Turkish edition. Text in Ottoman Turkish. Twelve works of the Kitaphane-i Ebüzziya series in one volume. In contemporary half leather. Spine with gilt title and ornaments. Panels decorated with blind stamped ornamentation. Marbled endpapers. Ornamented with head-pieces. Illustrated with a full-page reproduction of the portrait of the German Emperor, William I. 119 (1) p. Spine rubbed. Panels slightly worn, bumped at corners. Pages yellowed, with occasional light foxing and stains. A few pages with traces of creasing. With a stain on the edge. Overall in very good condition.

Extremely scarce, first Turkish edition of The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare. The second Shakespeare work, translated directly from English, to be published in Turkish.

Translated by Örikagasizade Hasan Sirri (1861–1939) from the original English text instead of French adaptations, The Comedy of Errors is the second adequate Turkish translation of Shakespeare, preceded only by the 1884 translation of The Merchant of Venice, also by Sirri. One of the first translations of any English literature into Turkish.

Kitabhane-i Ebüzziya was a series launched by the Turkish publisher Ebüzziya Mehmet Tevfik Bey (1849–1913) in order to present classical and contemporary literature to a wider audience. Shakespeare’s work is the second one in our volume which includes twelve writings by the Ottoman playwright and intellectual Namik Kemal (1840–1888) the Greek-Ottoman statesman, diplomat and author Achmet Resmi Efendi (1700–1783) among others.

Ref.: ÖZEGE 17696

Bibl.: Enginün, İnci: Tanzimat devrinde Shakespeare. Istanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi, 1979.; Ostle Robin: Modern Literature in the Near and Middle East, 1850-1970. London: Routledge Library Editions: Language & Literature of the Middle East, 1991.

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Price: €1,500.00