TURKISH SULTANS

(TURKISH SULTANS.) Cronica breve de fatti illustri de gli Imperatori de Turchi,
con le loro effigie dal naturale, nella quale si contiene sotto brevità in che tempo
cominciassero a imperare e l’imprese più notabile fatte da loro, e quanto tempo
regnassero.

Venice, Bernardo Giunta, 1598.

Small folio, ff. [3, last blank], woodcut printer’s device on title, with 15 etched plates depicting Ottoman Sultans within elaborate Mannerist frames; some light browning or foxing (mostly marginal), first two plates fractionally trimmed at fore-edge,small hole (paper flaw) in fore-edge of eleventh plate (not affecting image), old inked-out inscriptions on title and at foot of final plate; contemporary vellum with remains of ties; spine soiled, recased.

First edition of this extremely rare anonymous series of portraits of the Turkish
sultans from Osman Gazi (1299-1324) to Mehmed III (1595-1603). It derives (for
the portraits up to and including Selim I) from the Rouillé-Sansovino series of
Ottoman portraits, which is distinct from the other major sixteenth-century collection,
namely the Giovio series first published in Basel in 1575-7. See Jürg Meyer zur
Capellen,’Sultan portraits in European printed books of the 16. century. The
“Cronica breve” of 1598′ in 9. Milletlerarasi Türk Sanatlari Kongresi / 9th
International Congress of Turkish Art I,Ankara,1995,pp.451-464.
The Turkish sultans depicted are: Osman Gazi;Orhan; Murad I; Bayezid I; Isa Çelebi; Musa Çelebi; Mehmed I;Murad II; Mehmed II; Bayezid II; Selim I; Suleyman I; Selim II; Murad III and Mehmed III. The text gives a brief resumé of the events of each sultan’s reign.
EDIT 16 CNCE 13821 (calling for 13 plates only); Göllner 2356. OCLC records just three locations: Bibliothèque nationale, British Library and Washington, National
Gallery of Art (imperfect,lacking four plates).