Description

Servet-i Fünun ( ثروت ف نون ) or Wealth of Knowledge was a famous Ottoman magazine, published between 1891 and 1944. Starting as an illustrated with scientific articles and reports, accompanied with humour and literature, it soon turned into a leading literary magazine, publishing modern Ottoman poetry and literature. The group of authors, which gathered around the magazine between 1896 and 1901, passed into the history of literature under titles “New Literature” or the “Servet-i Fünun Lietrarure”.

The founder and the publisher of the magazine, Ahmet İhsan Tokgöz (1868 – 1942) was probably one of the most influential figures of the literature of the late Ottoman Empire, connecting the influences from the West with Ottoman tradition. He was leading the magazine from its foundation in 1888 until his death.

Growing up in Shkodra, Albania, and Damascus, Syria, Ahmet İhsan finished a law degree. A keen translator and a big fan of the Jules Verne novels, he made first translations of Verne’s text to Ottoman, starting a new genre of the adventure novels in the Ottoman world.

This folio size supplement of the magazine contains over 80 portraits of the people, active on the magazine, and most important the portraits of the leading authors of the so called Ottoman new literature, which gathered around the Servet-i Fünun magazine. This issue is a valuable documentation to the history of the Ottoman New Literature.

References: Orhan OKAY, Turkish Literature During the Reform Period. In: Ottoman Civilization, 2, 2009, pp.581ff. ZİYAD EBÜZZİYA, AHMED İHSAN TOKGÖZ (1867-1942)
(https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ahmed-ihsan-tokgoz).