Good Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928) Original full leather bdg. in traditional Ottoman style. Repaired skillfully. 4to. (29 x 18 cm). In Ottoman script. 2 volumes set in one: ([15], 327 p.; [6], 315 p.). Vasif tarihi. Mahasin ül-âsâr ve hakayik ül-ahbâr. 2 volumes set. Özege 22519. Extremely rare. First Edition. In the late eighteenth century the Ottoman Empire experienced a time of profound crisis, political as well as intellectual, moral, and ideological. This dissertation explores the mental and moral climate of the period through the work of Ahmed Vasif Efendi, a statesman, ambassador, intellectual, and author of one of the century's largest histories, and also through his personal development as a reformer. Divided into five chapters, each treating a distinct aspect of Vasif's thought, this dissertation argues that Ottoman elites after 1774 responded to growing foreign and domestic challenges with not only military reform but a broad re-evaluation of subjects like war, peacemaking, moral rule, and human agency in history. It suggests these debates, including a basic disagreement over the legitimate place of human reason and action across life's many spheres, indicate a vital if fractured response to the crisis, and an incipient breakdown in certain storied intellectual frameworks.
