A stunning collection of annotated plates of thirty military ranks and
roles in the early nineteenth-century Imperial Ottoman army
English writings on the Ottoman empire grew in the seventeenth century,
following the establishment of official commercial relations between
London and the Sublime Porte in 1580 and a permanent English diplomatic
mission at Istanbul in 1583. This stunningly produced reprint of the
classic The Military Costume of Turkey: Illustrated by a Series of
Engravings from Drawings Made on the Spot: Dedicated by Permission to
His Excellency the Minister of the Ottoman Porte to His Britannic
Majesty, originally published in 1818 by London publishers Thomas
McLean, features a set of annotated plates with descriptions of thirty
military ranks and roles in the Imperial Ottoman army. The images, which
are carefully colored by hand, depict costumes of the Ottoman army on
the eve of drastic early-nineteenth-century military reforms that were
to lead to major changes in army apparel. They not only reflect the way
in which costume in Ottoman society was directly linked to social
status, rank, and power, but also European fascination with the
Ottomans' attention to and emphasis on dress and public appearance. With
an introduction by historian Tamer el-Leithy.
