Crimee

Fine English Paperback. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Turkish. [vi], 120 p., b/w plts. Avraham Firkowicz was a Turkic-speaking Karaite Jew from what is now Western Ukraine, who spent much of his life in extensive travels, during which he obsesively looked for ancient Jewish manuscripts. The academic world owes to this picturesque man three most important collections of Jewish manuscripts ever collected by a single man. During his short stay in Istanbul in the Tanzimat Period produced there several important Karaite books in Turkish, and his activities in the Ottoman capital paved, in many senses, the way for far-going transformation of Karaite life there and in Russia, which ultimately helped rise of Turkic nationalism.