SIGNED TAHER 'UMAR, OTTOMAN TURKEY, DATED AH 1237/1821-2 AD

Commentary on the Diwan of Hafiz. Ottoman Turkish manuscript in two volumes on watermarked paper, volume one 251ff. with 2 flyleaves and volume two 234ff. with two flyleaves, 37ll. of black naskh per folio with important words and underlining in red ink, gold rosette divisions, margins with periodic commentary, within blue and gold rules, catchwords and pagination, opening folio of volume one with red and gold illuminated headpiece, colophon with name of scribe, date and place of copying, in contemporary red leather binding with gilt medallions and flap, yellow paper doublures

Ahmed Sudi Bosnawi (d. circa 1599) was born in Bosnia in a village on the border with Montenegro. He studied in Foça, Sarajevo and Istanbul. After sojourns in Erzurum, Diyarbakir, Damascus, Baghdad, Kufa and making the pilgrimage to Mecca he settled once more in Istanbul, where he was for a short while employed at the school for the Palace Slaves in the palace of Ibrahim Pasha on the Atmeydani. After his dismissal, probably on the death of his patron Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, he dedicated himself to writing. He was particularly well known for his commentaries on Persian classics such as the Diwan of Hafiz and the Gulistan and Bustan of Sa’di. For his biography see Muhammed Aruçi, ‘SÛDÎ BOSNEVÎ’, in TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, online version, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sudi-bosnevi (accessed 05.08.2022).