I recall how the local village-baked bread tasted marvellously different wherever we went, much as it must have done in his day. He tells of spending 40 days with companions on summer pastures south of Sofia, “savouring the regional delights… trout that we caught in the lake and cooked in butter… milk and cream and yoghurt, curds and whey and buttermilk and beestings and cheeses, and butter-baked breads and pastries” and “fattening ourselves on roasted lamb”.ĭespite rumours to the contrary, we never did manage to procure a lamb for roasting while on the 2009 Evliya Çelebi Ride (see Cornucopia 43), but I will never forget sampling all those other delicacies, as well as the “strawberries and chestnuts, wild pears, sour plums, medlars and rowan berries” that Evliya enjoyed. Composed from notes kept during more than 40 years of journeys throughout imperial lands when the Ottoman Empire was at its most extensive, Evliya’s often astonishing record opens up life in an era still little known and understood, and reveals a man fascinated by everything he saw. Born in Istanbul and raised at the court of Murad IV, he also liked to travel and do a lot of other things, as readers will quickly discover. IncludingĪn informative introduction, a useful guide to literary allusions, a glossary, several maps and a generous selection of full-colour illustrations, this is a beautiful book at a reasonable price that connoisseurs of Turkey will want to read and reread, and which deserves to find its way onto university reading lists.Įvliya Çelebi liked to eat. The publication of this wonderfully rich, lively selection from the ten volumes of Evliya’s manuscript, in a clear, vigorous and atmospheric English translation, is sure to bring this monumental work the attention it deserves. Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Financial Times Book Review |įor far too long, Evliya Çelebi (1611–c1684) and his Book of Travels have been almost entirely unknown outside Turkey, and little read except by scholars. However Çelebi is scarcely known in the west and little published in English … it is typically brave of Eland, a superb publishing house that specialises in making available lost jewels of travel writing, to bring out this unforgettable, fun, yet brilliantly compelling selection. His achievement is not just that of a superb stylist and aesthete but also that of scale: he wrote 10 volumes and was both storyteller and obsessive compiler of facts. If you can imagine a writer who is a combination of Samuel Pepys, Falstaff and the 18th-century courtier Prince de Ligne writing in the Islamic world of the Ottoman empire … then you will approach the fascinating talent of Evliya Çelebi. ![]() A proper edition of his massive work has long been overdue, and Robert Dankoff magnificently translates the highlights … a book which is likely to change for ever our perceptions of the Ottoman Empire. A learned and perceptive gentleman-observer from courtly Istanbul at the height of its power, Evilya’s work records and preserves an entire world otherwise lost to history. ![]() Evliya Çelebi was the widest-eyed, most intensely curious … and prolific travel writer the Ottoman world ever produced.
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