Abstract
Mehmed Said and his work Necm-i Seher, One of the First Masters of Madrasah al-Hattatin
The life of Mehmed Said, one of the leading masters of rik‘a calligraphy of the 20th century, and his work Necm-i Seher are the subject of this study. During his long and successful career as a civil servant, Mehmed Said, who was rewarded with many badge and medals, was closely related to the prominent dignitaries of the period, especially Küçük Said Pasha (d. 1914), one of the Ottoman grand viziers. In his work called Necm-i Seher, besides his poems in various forms and subjects, since it contains the biography of Mehmed Said and his works in verse and prose. Although the work is small in volume, it is the only source that will reveal the poet’s literary personality, since it contains the biography of Mehmed Said and his works in verse and prose. In addition, owing to the composing chronograms by the poet, it is possible to find many clues about his family, close circle and events of the period. In this aspect, the work is important not only for the history of literature, but also for the history of the recent period. Within the scope of the possibility, many catalogs were scanned and two transcript of the work were reached. The first transcript registered in the Istanbul University Rare Works Library was copied by Ibnülemin Mahmud Kemal Inal (d. 1957), and the second transcript located in the Ataturk Library of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, was personally requested by Mehmed Said to be a relic of Ali Fuad. Based on the information contained in the sicill-i ahval registers, besides the biography written by him in the study, the characteristics of Necm-i Seher were mentioned, transcripts were briefly introduced, and the two named transcripts of the work were compared and transferred to modern letters.
Keywords
Literature, Ottoman Poetry, 20th Century, Madrasah al-Hattatin, Mehmed Said, Necm-i Seher.