New English Original bdg. Dust wrapper. 4to. (32 x 25 cm). English Edition. 241, [1] p., color ills. The arms of the sultans. The arms collection of Topkapi Palace. Translated by Alev (Kerimoglu) Bulut. "Weapon is a device that was developed by the mankind in the ancient ages for protection against the events of nature and enemies. The arms that were used for the functions of drilling, cutting, defense, and the firing function to be acquired later, were accepted as works of art owing to the mastery and craftsmanship skills that they display. The present work title The arms of the sultans. The arms collection of Topkapi Palace was prepared for the purpose of presenting to the readers The Arms of Collection of the Topkapi Palace Museum, where some of the rarest examples of these works of art are on display, as a whole along with an analysis of its fundamental attributes". Covering 1,300 years and consisting of 52,000 weapons of Arab, Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk, Persian, Turkish, Crimean Tartar, Indian, European, and Japanese origin, the Topkapi Palace Museum's weaponry collection is also among the world's premier weapons collections. The collection is made up in part of weapons transferred from the cebehâne and those used by the palace guards; however, the collection's most noteworthy section consists of those weapons ordered by the sultan personally or specially made as gifts for him, which weapons are a part of the palace's private collection. This collection includes weaponry owned by such sultans as Mehmed II, Bayezid II, Selim the Grim, Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, Mehmed II, and Ahmed I, as well as the weapons of such high-level dignitaries as grand viziers, pashas, and palace chamberlains; all of these weapons are eye-catching with their fine craftsmanship and decorations. An additional factor that contributed to the diversification of the collection's highly artistic weaponry was the tradition of bringing to the palace the weapons of important figures that were obtained through plunder.
