Ottoman manuscript almanac.

8vo (155 x 230 mm). 14 ff. Arabic and Ottoman Turkish manuscript on paper. Black and red script in rubricated rows and columns, with important words and phrases picked out in gold. 19th century textured green wrappers, with the year written in Arabic numerals on the front cover. An interesting example of an Ottoman calendar and almanac for the year AH 1256 style), comprising each of the twelve months of the Rumi takvim (literally, "Roman calendar") adopted in the Ottoman Empire in 1839. Each month stretches across two facing pages, each carefully tabulated in 15 rows and 28 columns, with numerous notes and calculations. A final two-page spread provides further detail on the year as a whole. - Ottoman almanacs served an important purpose: they helped to keep track of Muslim holy days, provided a calendar, and often tracked the movement of the sun, moon, and planets in the form of astronomical tables. Some more ornate examples were made as gifts, while others would have been kept for personal use, or even as souvenirs of important years. - Some exterior wear, contemporary notations on margins and endpapers. Interior bright and clean.