in the library
of Osman III., attached to the beautiful mosque of Noor-Osmanya. But
the most interesting of the public libraries, though the number of its
volumes does not exceed sixteen hundred, is that of the grand-vizir
Raghib Pasha, a celebrated patron of learning in the middle of the
last century. It stands in an enclosed court, which also contains a
free school, fountains, and the monuments of the founder and his
family. The library itself is a lofty square chamber, with a central
dome and four semi-domes, supported by marble columns, and round the
apartment "runs a complete and most correct version of the celebrated
Boorda of the poet Keab," (a poem composed in honour of Mohammed by an
Arab contemporary,) "in gold letters, fourteen inches long, on a green
ground, forming an original and brilliant embellishment." Its contents
include some of the richest and rarest specimens of Persian and Arabic
caligraphy; and the founder's note-book, with a copy of his divan,
(poetical works,) is also exhibited: "the former proves that he was
not unaccomplished as a draughtsman and architect.... There is a
lightness and elegance in this building which renders it superior to
all others: but he survived its foundation only three years. His
remains are deposited in the north-east angle of the court, on an
elevated terrace, beneath open marble canopy, protected by a wirework
trellis. This, with the roses and myrtles, and the figs, vines,
pomegranates, and cypresses, that cast their shade around, gives it
the appearance of a noble aviary, more than that of a repository for
the dead: and the doves that nestle in the overhanging branches, and
fill the air with their querulous notes, add to the delusion."

The total number of volumes in all the public libraries is believed
not to exceed 75,000, of which at least a fourth are duplicates; "it
must be remembered, however, that, with a few modern exceptions, the
whole are MSS. admirably transcribed, elaborately embellished: and
thus, taking one volume with another, the sums paid for each work far
exceed the average price of rare printed editions in Europe." Besides
these stores of Oriental lore, the library of the medical academy
established by Mahmood II. in the palace of Galata Serai, contains
several hundred volumes of the best French medical works, which the
professors are allowed to carry to their own apartments--a privilege
not allowed in any other library. The art of printing was fi