The New International Encyclopædia/Hajji Khalfah, Mustafa ibn Abdallah Katib Tchelebi

HAJJI KHALFAH, hä'jḗ käl'fä, Mustafa ibn Abdallah Katib Tchelebi (c.1600-58). A celebrated Turkish historian and bibliographer. He was born at Constantinople about the end of the sixteenth century, and died there in September, 1658. From 1622 till 1633 he was employed in the Turkish army, and had an excellent opportunity of acquiring information regarding matters of history, geography, etc. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca, whence his name Hajji (q.v.). In 1635 he was at Constantinople studying and collecting material for his encyclopædia. In 1648 he was appointed second assessor in the army bureau of provisions. From this position he got his second name, Khalfah (assessor). His works are written in Turkish and Arabic. They include, besides smaller works: (1) the celebrated Asāmī al-kutūb wo-al-funūn (Names of Books and Sciences), written in Arabic, and of which Flügel has given a Latin translation with the text, under the title Lexicon Bibliographicum et Encyclopædicum a Mustapha-ben-Abdallah (Leipzig, 1835-58). In this work is given a definition of each science; the titles, contents, language, dates of composition, and translation of more than 25,000 works are specified; also the names of the authors and dates of their death. It is the most complete catalogue in existence of works written in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish; (2) Ta'rikh kebir (Great History), a history of the world from the creation of Adam to 1655, containing notices of 150 dynasties, principally Asiatic; (3) a history of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 to 1655; (4) a history of the maritime wars of the Turks, which has been translated into English (London, 1831).