The long-term aim of Amasya05 is to publish, within the bounds of copyright, every book known in history to be connected with Amasya. Works in the public domain are treated in their original language with a Turkish and English translation; works still under copyright are treated only with the rights holder's permission, or at the level of citation and a short summary. This page shows the present state of the Library: what has been published on the site, the projects planned and the books still to be researched.

Copyright Principle

In Turkey and the European Union, protection lasts seventy years after the author's death; works whose term has expired are in the public domain. A new edition, transliteration or translation of a public-domain text may be protected in its own right. For that reason, where possible, we prepare our own translation and transliteration from the public-domain original. For works under copyright, no text is published without the rights holder's permission. The notes "public domain" and "under copyright" in the list below follow this principle; where the status of a work could not be confirmed, the list does not present it as confirmed.

Published on the Site

  • Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar, Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya): the entries from the introductory volume and volumes one to twelve are being published section by section in the encyclopedia part of the site. Each entry gives the original text of the book, its rendering into present-day Turkish and a sourced research article together. The work is ongoing; the number of published entries grows every day.
  • Divan and poetry editions: the poems of Nigârî, Gelibolulu Sürûrî, Münîrî, Arpaeminizâde Sâmî, Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi, Merzifonlu Cûdî, Mihrî Hatun, Kara Fazlî, Şâhî, Âşıkî Pîr Ahmed Çelebi and many other poets connected with Amasya have been published, each poem on its own page with a sourced commentary.

Planned Projects

  • Strabo, Geography: the ancient testimony on Amasya, especially Book XII.
  • Petra Kappert, monograph on the princes of Amasya and court life (Leiden, 1976): a Turkish translation is planned.
  • Yeşilırmak Dergisi (1938-1939, eight issues): digitisation and research.
  • Special section on the National Struggle: the place of Amasya in that period; memoirs and documentary sources.

Books to Be Researched: Priority

The works below either take Amasya as their subject or contain an important testimony about it. For those in the public domain, digital copies are being sought and translations planned.

  • Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Itinera Constantinopolitanum et Amasianum / Legationis Turcicae Epistolae (Latin, 1581 and 1589): Suleiman's camp at Amasya in the spring of 1555 and the days of the Peace of Amasya. Public domain.
  • Hans Dernschwam, Diary of a Journey to Constantinople and Asia Minor (German, 1553-1555; first published 1923): a detailed witness of the days spent in Amasya. The text is in the public domain, the 1923 edition is under copyright; a digital copy is being sought.
  • Georges Perrot, Souvenirs d'un voyage en Asie Mineure (French, 1864), the chapter "Amassia". Public domain.
  • Asterios of Amaseia, Homilies (Greek, fourth-fifth century; English translation 1904): late antique Amasya. The Greek original is in the public domain.
  • J. G. Wetzstein, Die Liebenden von Amasia (German, 1906): a shadow play bearing the name of Amasya. Public domain.
  • Western travellers' accounts of Amasya (1717-1881): Pococke, Tournefort, Morier, Ouseley, Ker Porter, Smith and Dwight, Fontanier, Ainsworth, Fletcher and Tozer. All in the public domain; they are to be prepared as a single compilation.
  • Evliya Çelebi, Seyahatnâme, volume two: the Amasya and Merzifon sections. The original is in the public domain; since existing transcriptions are under copyright, our own transliteration is the aim.
  • Âkifzâde Abdurrahim Efendi, al-Majmū' fi'l-mashhūd wa'l-masmū' and Kara Müftîzâde Mustafa Vâzıh, al-Balābil al-Rāsiya fī Riyāz-ı Masāili'l-Amāsiyya: manuscripts by authors from Amasya; the locations of the copies are being sought.
  • Kapriel Simonian, Memorial Book of Amasya in Pontus (Western Armenian, Venice, 1966): a memorial book of the Armenians of Amasya. Probably under copyright; publication requires the rights holder's permission.
  • G. Vardapetian, The Topographical Geography of Amasya (Armenian, Amasya, 1912): a city geography printed in Amasya; a copy is being sought.

Books to Be Researched: Medium Priority

  • W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia (1842), H. J. Van Lennep, Travels in Little-Known Parts of Asia Minor (1870), F. and E. Cumont, Studia Pontica II (1906), Vital Cuinet, La Turquie d'Asie (1890-1895), A. D. Mordtmann, Anatolien (1925).
  • Amirdovlat Amasyatsi, Angitats Anpet (Useless to the Ignorant) and his medical works; Sabuncuoğlu Şerefeddin, Cerrâhiyyetü'l-Hâniyye and Mücerrebnâme.
  • Menâkıb-ı Pîrî Baba, Dânişmendnâme, Bezm ü Rezm, Behcetü't-tevârîh, Mir'âtü'l-Mülûk and the local registers on which Hüsameddin drew.
  • Hüsameddin, Nişancılar Durağı ve Osmanlı Meşâhiri; the Amasya sections of the Sivas Provincial Yearbooks.
  • Albert Gabriel, Monuments turcs d'Anatolie (1934): under copyright, permission required.

Books to Be Researched: Later

  • The Studia Pontica volumes of Cumont and Anderson, Charles Texier, H. H. von der Osten, Uzunçarşılı's Kitâbeler, the Amasya passages of Ibn Battuta and Hamdullah Mustawfi, Amaseian hagiography, Tarîku'l-Edeb, Resimli Amasya.
  • Local works still under copyright, such as Osman Fevzi Olcay's Amasya Hâtıraları: used only by citation and short summary.

How We Proceed

We begin with short public-domain works whose digital copies are at hand; each will be published in Turkish and English, with a cover image and sources. Book-length translations follow. For manuscripts, the location of the copy is established first, then permission to use images, then the transliteration. For works under copyright, no text is published until the rights holder has been found and permission obtained. The list is updated as new sources are found.