A Brief Bibliographic Guide to Ottoman Studies

A Brief Bibliographic Guide to Ottoman Studies William M. Blair There are a number of bibliographical aids for the student of Ottoman studies, some general in nature, many specialized. Here I list and describe those general ones which I have found most useful over the years. The most important work is the Türkologischer Anzeiger/Turkology Annual. Appearing originally as a supplement to the Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes in 1975, this annual has the most comprehensive listing of books, articles, and reviews in the field of Turkology. The most recent issue, no. 29, was published in 2014. The first twenty-six issues are now searchable online at http://kjc-fs2.kjc.uni-heidelberg.de:8000/en/. However, sample searches suggest that the search function is extremely limited. There are no abstracts to increase the potential keywords; while one can search by author, other keyword searches depend on the very limited number of words found in the title. A keyword search for bahriye will not locate entries in English , German, French, etc.—or even Turkish—which do not contain bahriye but which may contain instead other relevant keywords such as donanma, kapudan-ı derya, marine, navy, etc. There is a subject search, but the subjects tend to be so broad as to be almost meaningless. For example, there is no subject specifically concerning the Ottoman navy. The relevant subject heading is “military and warfare,” which contains 401 entries. This breaks down to an average of just fifteen entries per year on military and warfare topics, which seems to be low. Under the heading “Heer- und Kriegswesen” (Military Affairs) in the printed edition for volumes 3–24, i.e., four fewer issues than the online version, there are 461 entries (including cross references) or an average of twenty-one per issue. Clearly, while the online version is more convenient to use, it does not replace the paper version in terms of completeness and effectiveness in searching. The Türkologischer Anzeiger complements the massive bibliography by Hans-Jürgen Kornrumpf, Osmanische Bibliographie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Türkei in Europa (Leiden: Brill, 1973). The impetus for producing this 1,378-page bibliography unmatched in its comprehensiveness was that Index Islamicus, the basic index to articles (more recently also Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 457–462 Copyright © 2015 Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association. doi:10.2979/jottturstuass.2.2.21 to books) in the field of Middle Eastern/Islamic studies, to a great extent neglected Ottoman studies and publications in Turkish. Index Islamicus, as mentioned above, is the basic bibliographical resource for Middle Eastern/Islamic studies. The first volume appeared in 1958 and covers publications from the years 1906–55. Supplements—multi-year compilations , annuals, and quarterly issues—bring the bibliographic record up to the current year. Index Islamicus now does a much better job of covering Ottoman and Republican Turkish topics. Many libraries also have an online version of Index Islamicus. While better than the Türkologischer Anzeiger online version in terms of interface, it still has the problems that most online bibliographies have, that is, results depend upon the keywords selected by the user. In a printed bibliography, an editor or editorial board organizes the entries so that related entries may be found together, regardless of language of entry or choice of title words. In online databases the “organization” is largely determined by the searcher. Index Islamicus does have a much better subject searching capability, which greatly enhances it value, but does not include abstracts of the books and articles listed. W. H. Behn has prepared two supplements to Index Islamicus: Index Islamicus, 1665–1905: A Bibliography of Articles on Islamic Subjects in Periodicals and Other Collective Publications (Millersville, PA: Adıyok, 1989) and Index Islamicus, Supplement, 1665–1980: A Bibliography of Articles on Islamic Subjects in Periodicals and Other Collective Publications (Millersville, PA: Adıyok, 1995–96). As far as I know, the entries in these titles are not included in the online version of Index Islamicus. A new periodical publication that promises to be of major interest to Ottomanists is Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür...