Hadshi-khalfa

Hadshi-Khalfa (originally MUSTAFA ben-Abdallah, also known by the name of Katib- Tshelebi), a most celebrated Turkish historian, geographer,. and biographer, was born at Constantinople about 1605. He was for some time secretary to the sultan, Murad IV, and died in 1658. His main production is a great biographical lexicon, Keshful-funun, written in Arabic, in which he gives the titles of more than 18,000 Arabic, Persian, and Turkish works, with short biographies of the authors. It is of the greatest value, since it enumerates a great many others which seem to have been lost. Hammer- Purgstall largely used this work for his Encyklopadische Uebersicht der Wissenschaften des Orients (Leipsic, 1806). A complete edition of Iadshi's text, with a Latin translation, was published by Flilgel, Lexicon Bibliographicum et Encyclopaedicum (Lond. 1835-58, 7 volumes): — Hadshi also published chronological tables, Takwum-al-tawarikh (translated into Latin by Reiske, Leipsic, 1766), and a geography, Dschihan-numa (Latin transl. by Norberg, Lund, 1818, 2 volumes). (B.P.)