Böcker av Omer Ofendi

Serving as a judge in his native Bosnia in 1737 when war broke out between the Austrians and the Turks, Omer Efendi (about whose life little else is known) produced this vivid account of the conflict from an Ottoman perspective. Important for what it reveals about the region's social history, the work was revised and published by Ibrahim Muteferrika (c.1672-1745), the founder of Turkish printing. It was first published in English in 1830 after being translated by Charles Fraser, a professor at Edinburgh's Naval and Military Academy. Fraser also added an introduction to the work that gives both a brief history of Bosnia and an overview of the text. The narrative begins with a description of the army of the invading Austrians, who are described throughout as 'infidels'. An account is then given of the operations of the war, through to the signing of the Belgrade treaty in 1739.