مولود
Published: 1449
Place of publication: Turkey?
Language: ota
Number of pages: 113
Subjects: Turkish Manuscripts
Other titles: Mevlūd
Work titles: Mevlūd
Description: "This long Old Ottoman mes̱nevī Mevlid, called Mevlūd in the colophon (f. 113b), contains legendary descriptions of the Prophet’s birth and life, told in more than 3000 verse couplets. It also includes brief accounts of earlier Koranic prophets: İdrīs, Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Yūsuf, Mūsā, Süleymān, ʿİsā (f. 24a–29b). This apparently unique MS is one of the earliest mevlids in Turkish. Its composition was completed in 853/1449, and this copy was finished in the first decade of Ramażān 902/May 1497 (f. 113b, colophon). Although some earlier Turkish mes̱nevīs contained material resembling mevlids, the oldest generally accepted Turkish mevlid, and still the most popular, is that of Süleymān Çelebi, formally titled Vesīlet ün-necāt, which he composed in 812/1409; it contains about 768 verses. Thirty years later, in 842/1438, ʿĀrif authored another mevlid of 850 verses. Some years after that, the present work was composed; it is almost 4 times the length of its predecessors. The manuscripts begins with an account of the classic doctrine of the nūr-i Muḥammedī. The unknown author was clearly a Sunnī, as is evident from the final verses, in which he notes the caliphate of [E]bū Bekr, ʿÖmer, ʿOṣmān and ʿAlī. Between the end of one meclis and the next there is usually a 5 beyt “naʿt” in praise of the Prophet (meclis 1–6), but the 7-verse poem preceding the meclis 8 is rather headed şiʿir (f. 76a). No such poetry precedes meclis 7 (f. 65b).The whole mes̱nevī is composed in the usual meter of mevlids: fāʿilātün fāʿilatün fāʿilün, but rather imperfectly; there are many imāles." -- Copies from E. Birnbaum.
Notes: Collation: Catchwords present at the bottom of each folio.

Layout: 13 lines per page ; dimensions of the text 17 x 11.5 cm.

Script: Fully vocalized nesih.

Support: Paper unwatermarked “Oriental” paper, except for 4 blank leaves added after leaf 113 which bear a Shield design.

Decoration: Text in black ink ; section titles marked in red ink.

Binding: Rebound, ca 18th century in plain soft leather, during which pages were trimmed, cutting through many catchwords.

Text begins: اوّلی قامونك اؤّل اوُکِدر / آخری مجموعُك آخِر صوکدر

Text ends:اولدِ عثمان او ایکی ییل اول حکیم  / آلتِ ییل اولدی علی اول خوش سلیم / بس خلافت اولدِ اوتُز ییل تمام / قلدِ اندن صکره بکلك خاصُ عام / خوش سکز یوز اللی اُجده بو کتاب / اولدِ ختم الله اعلم بالصواب / تمت للمولود. بعونك الودود.

Eleazar Birnbaum, Ottoman Turkish and Çagatay Manuscripts in Canada, 2015, 35.

Purchase; Kennys; 2020; MS.20.084.

Ottoman Turkish.

Fisher Birnbaum MSS Turkish copy: The Manuscript was bought by E. Birnbaum.