Ɵ OTTOMAN ATLAS: Raif Efendi, Mahmud. Cedid Atlas Tercumesi [A Translation of a New Atlas]. single volume, hand-coloured engraved pictorial title with the tughra of Sultan Selim III, text in Ottoman Turkish, (79pp + 1p.), 24 hand-coloured terrestrial maps, including 2 twin-hemispheres and one world, all double-page, (some additionally folded), one double-page, plain celestial chart (coloured in outline), contemporary Ottoman blind-stamped calf, folio., (548 x 365mm), Constantinople, 1218 AH (April 1803 - March 1804). Provenance: Probably given to General Lord Hely-Hutchinson of Alexandria, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore, by the Ottoman Sultan Selim III. RARE. This is the first large folio world atlas printed in the Islamic world, 'of which only 50 copies were printed' (Catalogue of the Library of Congress). The maps are based on William Faden's General Atlas (pub. 1796), a copy of which was obtained by the author when he was in London serving as private secretary to the Ottoman Ambassador. They are close to Faden's originals, but place names are transliterated into Arabic script, Christian symbols are removed, and the cartouches are without their human figures - Neptune's trident remains but not Neptune himself. They are accompanied by Mahmud Raif Efendi's geographical treatise.The atlas is one of the products of the Ottoman 'New Order' (Nizam-i Cedid), a series of reforms instituted by Sultan Selim III to match the European powers militarily and politically. Several copies were reserved for high-ranking officials and important institutions, but others were lost during the Janissary revolt of 1807/8, during which Selim was deposed and Raif was killed. Selim was killed by assassins soon after.It has been estimated that a maximum of twenty complete copies might survive in institutional or private libraries, though this figure may be revised slightly in the light of recent discoveries.How such a rare and prized book found its way into this library is uncertain. One possibly would be through General John Hely-Hutchinson (1757-1832) who was second-in-command of Abercromby's expedition to Egypt in 1801. On Abercromby's death Hely-Hutchinson assumed command and his successes at Cairo and Alexandria against the French led to him being rewarded by Sultan Selim III, who made him a Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Crescent. Another possibility is Frederick North (1766-1827), fifth Earl of Guilford, the philhellene and book collector, who travelled in the Ottoman empire and settled in Corfu. Other family members included Richard Heber (1773-1833), the bibliophile, and Reginald Heber (1783-1826), bishop of Calcutta and half-brother of Richard.