Images of the Ottoman Empire: the photograph albums presented by Sultan Abdulhamid II

摘要

ONE of the treasures of the British Library's Turkish collections is the magnificent setof fifty-one ornately bound albums, containing in all over i,8oo photographs (albumenprints), which the Ottoman Sultan Abdlilhamid II presented to the British Museum in1893 and were received in 1894. (An almost identical set was given to the United StatesLibrary of Congress in the same years.) The contents represent a carefully pickedselection from the vast photographic collection amassed by the Sultan, whose completearchive of over 33,000 prints is preserved at the Istanbul University Library. The giftwas designed to show the Sultan, sovereign of a still considerable territory with a greathistory, as a reforming and enlightened ruler. Abdlilhamid II was an extraordinary figureand can be seen from many different viewpoints. It is not always easy for the reader tobelieve that the comprehensive character assassination by Sir Edwin Pears, the slightlyromantic, perhaps over-protective account by Joan Haslip, and the quasi-hagiographyby the Turkish writer Necip Fazil Kisakurek all really concern the same man. In fact,there is abundant scope and material for further research on the Sultan and the eventsof his reign, which lasted from 1876 to 1909. His photographs will surely play a part inthat process.