Ebû Bekir Rifʿat Efendi of Crimea (born c. 1780/81; probably died 1831/32)

Münşeât ve Dîvân-ı Rifʿat Efendi

Būlāq, Cairo: Maṭbaʿat Ṣāḥib al-Saʿāda al-Abadiyya, 1254 AH [1838].

The edition comprises three separately paginated sections in one volume: 183, 52 and 25 pages. Ottoman Turkish, with Arabic and Persian quotations. Ornamental headpieces, framed prose and verse arranged in ruled compartments.

Quarter leather over dark cloth-covered boards, with marbled endpapers.

Rifʿat’s correspondence and verse bring together two closely related forms of Ottoman literary practice: the cultivated letter and the poem. The Münşeât contains letters addressed to, or received from, officials and scholars, including Esad Muhlis Pasha, for whom Rifʿat served as a secretary. Arabic and Persian verse woven into the letters makes visible the multilingual resources of this administrative and literary world.

Born in Crimea and taken to Anatolia as a child, Rifʿat wrote of the insecurity of his earlier life and the transformation brought by official employment. His poetry ranges across devotional verse, chronograms and lyric forms; the separately arranged ghazals follow the traditional ordering by rhyme letter. This Cairo volume preserves both the social exchanges of a secretary and the literary ambitions of a poet.

Ornament, borders and divided verse carry manuscript practices into print, guiding readers between prose and poetry. Alongside technical instruction, Būlāq sustained an Ottoman literary repertoire: Cairo became a place where the linguistic and visual conventions of this learned world could be reproduced in print.

Condition

Paper browned and foxed, particularly in the margins, with creased corners and worn or split gutters. Dampstaining towards the end, with a conspicuous circular stain in the 25-page section.

References

• Uzun, Adnan. “Rif’at, Kırımlı Ebû Bekir Rif’at Efendi.” Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, 2013. Updated 2020. Source
• Türk Tarih Kurumu Kütüphanesi. “Münşeât-ı Rif’at Efendi; Dîvân-ı Rif’at Efendi; İbtidâ-i gazeliyyât.” Shelfmark A.II/2283, record 545382. Source

Artem reference: 204.