Des Histoires orientales et principalement des Turkes ou Turchikes et Schitiques ou Tartaresques et aultres qui en sont descendues, Oeuvre pour la tierce fois augmenté. Et Divisé en trois parties, avec l’indice des choses les plus memorables y contenues. Par Guillaume Postel cosmopolite, deux fois de la retourné & veritablement informé.
A Paris: De l’imprimerie de Hierosme de Marnef, et Guillaume Cavellat au mont S. Hilaire à l’enseigne du Pelican, 1575. First edition. In later binding, brown calf spine over marbled paper boards; marbled edges, spine with raised bands, compartments ruled in blind, and gilt spine label reading “Histoires orientales”, and imprint at foot. Marbled endpapers; engraved armorial bookplate of Édouard Frémy on the front pastedown. pp. [48] 374 [88]; *8 **8 ***8 (***7–8 blank) A–Z8 Aa–Ff7 (Ff8 blank not present). Joints and extremities lightly rubbed, with minor wear at head and foot, the binding firm. Text block compact; paper evenly toned, with occasional browning and light staining; some pages slightly overtrimmed, touching the headers or marginal notes. Overall in fine condition.
The first printed grammatical treatment of Turkish in a Western European language, combining a Turkish vocabulary with a humanist synthesis of the Ottoman world.
Published in 1575, Des Histoires orientales is a wide-ranging account of the Ottoman world and its historical, political, and religious foundations, treating the origins, customs, government, and power of the Turks alongside those of related peoples—Tartars, Moors, Arabs, and other “Ismaélites ou Mahométains.” The work opens with a brief Turkish vocabulary and grammatical note, followed by the Lord’s Prayer in Turkish. Divided into three parts, it moves from a historical and ethnographic survey to an analysis of the Ottoman polity and its laws, and concludes with a discussion of its economic resources and revenues, presenting a comprehensive description of the empire within a Christian framework. The second part is based in part on the substance of Postel’s earlier work, La République des Turcs (1560), while the first and third parts incorporate that material in reworked form, supplemented by marginal annotations, textual additions, and new concluding sections.
A defining feature of this edition is the presence, at the head of the volume, of an “Instruction des mots de la langue turquesque les plus communs,” followed by the Lord’s Prayer in Turkish. This introductory section combines a short practical vocabulary with elements of grammatical description, and represents the earliest printed grammatical treatment of Turkish in a Western European language (Yérasimos 1992). The linguistic material is integral to the work’s purpose, accompanying the historical and political exposition as part of a broader effort to render the Ottoman world intelligible to a French readership.
The work is framed by a dedication to Hercule-François de Valois, Duke of Anjou, youngest son of Catherine de Médicis, and more broadly addresses a Christian readership. Within this framework, the description of the Turks and other “Ismaélites ou Mahométains” is consistently embedded in a moral and religious interpretation, presenting the Ottoman polity not merely as an object of description but as material for a wider reflection on religion, power, and the condition of Christian states.
The 1575 edition also reflects a more developed editorial apparatus than earlier printings, with systematic marginal notes and a substantially expanded alphabetical index, reflecting an effort to organize and render accessible a corpus that had previously circulated in more fragmented form.
Guillaume Postel (1510–1581), born in Normandy and of modest origin, was one of the most learned figures of the French Renaissance. Trained in languages and recognized early for his knowledge of Arabic and Hebrew, among other languages, he participated in the French embassy to Constantinople in 1535 and was later appointed Lecteur Royal. His writings, produced between 1538 and 1579, combine linguistic inquiry, historical reflection, and theological speculation, often within a broader project of universal religious concord. His career was marked by both royal patronage and later difficulties: condemned by the Venetian Inquisition and imprisoned in Rome, he spent his later years under supervision in France while continuing to write.
In this context, Des Histoires orientales brings together Postel’s linguistic, historical, and religious interests in a single structured work, combining the description of the Ottoman world with practical tools—vocabulary, grammatical notes, and a developed index—designed to render it accessible to a European readership.
Provenance: Édouard Frémy (1843–1904), French historian and writer; formerly a diplomat (secrétaire de légation, then premier secrétaire d’ambassade) before turning to historical research and literary work, notably on the Valois court and French diplomatic history; from his library, with engraved armorial bookplate.
Literature: Postel, C. (1992). Les écrits de Guillaume Postel publiés en France et leurs éditeurs (1538–1579) (Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance, No. CCLXV). Genève: Librairie Droz; Yérasimos, S. (1992). Le Turc en Occident: La connaissance de la langue turque en Europe (XVe–XVIIe s.). Cahiers de Fontenay, 65–66, 191–210.
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Price: €10,000.00