THE SULTAN'S SERVANTS: The Transformation of Ottoman Provincial Government, 1550-1650.

First edition, first printing. Inscribed presentation copy. Original white cloth with purple lettering to the spine, in dustwrapper. A very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. Minimally pushed to spine tips. In the unclipped dustwrapper, showing some light surface scuffing to the rear panel and a little curling to upper and lower edges.

Inscribed by the author in black ink to the front free endpaper, "To John Lonsdale / Metin Kunt / August 1987". The recipient is Professor John Lonsdale, Emeritus Professor of Modern African History and Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge. The author (1942-2020), one of the most distinguished historians of the Ottoman Empire, was founding editor of the monumental four-volume 'Cambridge History of Turkey'. 'The Sultan's Servants', originally published in Turkish in 1978, derives from Kunt's doctoral work at Princeton. The English version (translated by the author) is not just a translation but a substantially revised version of the original. In his review of the book, Godfrey Goodwin wrote of "the importance of this piece of research. It is of the quality which is now expected of a heartening number of younger Turkish historians of integrity who possess the scholarship and the insight required to succeed to the laurels of Koprulu and Inalcik." ('Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society', January 1984)