Makale özeti ve diğer detaylar.
The first samples of collections of pleasantries and witticisms in Turkish literature are encountered in the 15th century. Such collections became very popular after this period and today many such compilations are preserved in manuscript collections. Mehmed Tevfik,who was called as “Çaylak”, i.e. the Newbie, and who had contributed to the Turkish satire by publishing the first Turkish comic weekly and several compilations of witticisms and anecdotes, was also the author of one of the 19th century anecdotal compilations titled Nevâdirüʼz-zarâʾif, i.e.‘Rare Stories of the Elite'. In this work, he compiled several anecdotes about Turkish intellectuals and poets in order to preserve their memories. The only fascicle of this incomplete collection was published in 1881. It consists of one chapter after an introduction. The introduction starts with a report about a conversation between the Prophet Muhammad and Dihye and includes an essay on the importance of witty anecdotes and pleasantries in the Islamic and eastern cultures. The first chapter is organized according to the reigns of Ottoman sultans, Murad I, Süleyman the Amir, Mehemmed I, Mehemmed II, Bayezid II, and Selim I, and includes several anecdotes about people who have lived in these periods as well as some brief observations by Mehmed Tevfik. One of the important aspects of the Nevâdirüʼz-zarâʾif is that, as an original compilation it preserves anecdotes about Turkish authors and intellectuals that are not so commonly known. This article presents an evaluation of the text along with an annotated edition of it in modern Turkish alphabet and an index of proper names.