EVLIYA EFENDI (Evliya Celebi): Narrative of travels in Europe, Asia and Africa in the 17th century.London printed for the Oriental Translation Fund 1834-1850. First edition.In small FOLIO 28x22cm,contemporary publishers dark green hard covers,some very light wear on covers, from the prestigious Signet Library with contemporary manuscript inscriptions by pen in front past down of both volumes,text clean and bright, complete all published (in fascicules during 16 years), in two volumes, volume one (part one and two) volume two (186p.,256p.,244p.),the whole account of Evliya travels has not yet published today in its entirety ,overall in very good plus condition Evliya Celebi (1611-1682) was an Ottoman explorer who travelled though the huge territories of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years.He has visited most provinces of the Empire, almost all Greece including Athens where Parthenon impressed him so much to write a poem. He started in 1630s with Constantinople and the surrounding areas,the 1640s with Anatolia,Caucasus,Rumelia and Crete (he was among the Ottoman army in the earlier phase of conquest) and several other places later.The Cretan section,the very first after the Ottoman conquest, is in the second volume.His itinerary in Greece is dated mostly around 1667-70.His travel account (The SEYAHATNAME) has meticulous details for every place,covers thousands of pages in manuscript,and is an invaluable source for the Levant. Unlike many other travelers of his time,he wrote about local folklore,dialects,clothing,music and food.He mixed hard facts with tall tales,so the reading is entertaining and cinematic. Before this edition, Westerners viewed the Ottoman Empire through the eyes of European travelers,Evliya provided the Ottoman perspective. A monumental work,one of the very few travel accounts written by an Ottoman, in first edition.