Asuman and Zeycan, Turkish tale, 1840 - Lot 180

Asuman and Zeycan, Turkish tale, 1840 Manuscript in Turkish with Armenian characters, written in Erzinka. Bearing inscriptions dated 1256 A.H. (1840 A.D.). Manuscript with continuous Turkish text transcribed in Armenian notrgir script. The whole is copied in black ink, with titles and intertitles in red ink. The work contains the Turkish folk tale of Asuman and Zeycan - a love story imbued with magic, heroism and oriental wonder, combining the nobility of sentiment and the epic breath of Anatolian oral traditions. The version presented here corresponds to the most widespread version of Erzinka (Erzincan), opening with the words: In the province of Erzéroum, in the town of Erzinka, there was a bey and an agha... This tale, formed in 17th-century Eastern Anatolia, was appreciated by both Muslim and non-Muslim populations. The endpapers at the beginning and end of the volume bear inscriptions in Ottoman Turkish, dated 8 Muharrem 1256 (March 12, 1840). These notes mention a debt of 1,500 Kurush (Ottoman piastres) owed to a certain Mikaël, a friend of the copyist, who would have been either the debtor or the creditor. The binding of this volume is a half-leather binding from the late Ottoman period, decorated with a black floral motif stenciled on brown paper, a sober but refined type of decorative paper commonly used in modest 19th-century bindings. This manuscript, copied around 1840 or a few years earlier, was often offered by the fiancé on his first visit to his future wife, making this copy not only a literary testimony, but also a reflection of social customs and inter-community cultural exchanges in Ottoman Anatolia. Bibliography: Saim Sakaoğlu, Asuman ile Zeycan Hikayesi, Istanbul, 1972. Karl Reichl, Turkic Oral Epic Poetry: Tradition, Forms, Poetic Structure, p. 159-162.