Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-08
New Inspector General.


d. S. Mahmoud Bey, recently appointed
| Inspector general of libraries, tells me
| there are forty-five distinct collections of
books in the mosques and medresses of
Constantinople. All have been badly kept
/ and are usually regarded as of small
! value.
| There are few scholars or men of liter
| airy tastes among the ordinary mulIahs
connected with the mosques. AS rule,
the present generation of Moslems con-
| slider books ornaments and value them
! for their age and not for their contents.
| All of the libraries are now under the
! care of Mahmoud Bey. who is having
| them examined by competent commits
sion. The first task is to dig them out
from under the dust of the closets and
attics in which they have been lying for
! generations. Then they will be overhaul
| ed, examined. classified and catalogued,
SO that it will be possible to know what
| the books are.
Then it is proposed to assemble them in
| one great national library which will be
always open for the use of scholars and
| literary men. A portion of the new mu-
| scum will be used as temporary shelter
| for them.
The government has intrusted this work
| to the department of public instructions.
| Mahmoud Bey is in direct charge.
Abdul Hands Library.
There have been conflicting reports
about Abdul Hands library at the Yil-
! diz Kiosk. 1t has been represented by
| some newspaper writer's to be of incom-
| parable value and Importance. Others
| have condemned 1t as lot of rubbish
| Mahmoud Bey tells me that it contains
about 10000 printed books and manu-
| scripts, which have been hauled away to
Kuba-Altai, one of the old palaces in
l Cav ofy1tn -hnrn how hni Or
/ examined and classified by a commission
of which Abdureman Sheriff Bey, minister
of public instruction, is the chairman
Capt. Safed Bey. perhaps the foremost
| historian in Turkey, is in immediate
charge of the work
The sultan's collection contains
many manuscripts in the oriental
| languages. inherited by him and re-
ceived as gifts during his reign. and
many printed volumes Of great value
for their bindings and illustrations. in
English, French and German, present.
ed to him by people who were seeking
favors and supposed that he had a
taste for such things.
| But Mahmoud Bey says that he
really did not care particularly for
books He was no student; he never
read anything and was actually Hitter
ate. His early education was neglected
like that of the present sultan-who
has no culture or inclination to acquire
Mehmed is fond of show and
ceremony 1t is probable that he never
| read anything more serious than a
French novel in his life.
! Abdul Hamid was a miser in every
thing. He accepted all gifts that came
his way and seized everything he could
session. He was crazy to add to his
wealth. but did not care much what
he acquired.
Motley Book Collection.
Hence his books are a motley col
lection Of good. bad and Indifferent
works, in manuscripts and print. in all
languages. There is very little to in
terest scholars, so far as they have
been examined
! They were never classified nor cata-
1ogued. but were carefully kept. SIX
teen Librarians were employed during
eral servants busted the books regu-
larly and kept them clean. The libra
rians were neither competent nor in
clined to make catalogue.
lection are ornamental copies of the
Koran and ancient classical poems in
Persian and other oriental languages.
Many Of them are of script OF the
when penmanship was an art.
! Painting is prohibited by the Koran.
For that reason Moslems turned to
penmanship and the illumination Of
manuscripts to exercise their taste.
There are also many Turkish and
| Arabic works of historical value. Thus
far no Hebrew, Greek or Latin volumes
OF interest have been discovered.
| Worthless Books on Shelves.
The acquisitive disposition Of Abdul
Hamid is manifested in curious way by
some Of the books that were found on
his shelves. Catalogues of American manu-
facturers, price lists, descriptions of bat
tleships and torpedo boats and every kind
of commercial advertising were mixed up
with his French novels illustrated manu-
scripts of the Koran, Illuminated copies
| of Persian poems and Turkish classics.
| One of the most elaborate volumes in
the collection Is description of the eX-
position held at the Crystal Palace in
London sixty years ago. The sultan was
we'll supplied with similar literature. He
had the official reports OF almost every
exposition that has since been held
That Of the worlds Columbian exposi-
ton at Chicago has additional value for
the reason that it is a presentation copy
from Haiku Bey. the present grand vizier
and one of the leaders of the Young
Turk party who showed. him off his
throne.