Varidat-i Mensure we Divan,

sufi poetry by a follower of the celveti order

Sayyid Hashim Mustafa al-Uskudari al-Jalwati (Hashim Mustafa Uskudari), known as Hashim Baba, was a poet that spent much of his life preaching for the Sufi orders under the influences of Celvetism and Bektashism. He was born in Uskudar in 1718 AD and is responsible for compiling a vast collection of prose writings on numerous subjects including prognostication (jafr) and the numerology of the alphabet (abjad), were widely read and are found together as a single volume, now housed in numerous collections including the Suuleymaniye Library. Varidat-i Mensure ve Divan-i Menzume (the Prose Inspirations and the Poetic Divan) is a collection of mystical treatise in poetic form that was considered a highly regarded reference source amongst the followers of the Celveti order.

Single volume, illuminated manuscript on paper, in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, 101 leaves plus four fly-leaves, complete, single column, 19 lines of black naskh with important words picked out in red, within gold and black rules, margins with occasional commentary, catchwords, headings in red naskh on illuminated panels, opening bifolium with gold stencilled floral arabesques and illuminated headpiece, the final bifolium with similar illuminated margins, clean and crisp internal condition; housed in fine contemporary gilt tooled leather binding with flap, the doublures marbled paper, a very good copy. 195 x 116mm (7¾ x 4½ inches).