An Important Ottoman treatise on Insha' (the art of the secretary), Including Sultans' and Grand Viziers' Tughras, copied by 'Ali Ibn Khalili al-Izmiri, Turkey, dated 1173-75 AH/1759-61 AD

Ottoman Turkish manuscript on different coloured papers, 154 leaves plus 2 flyleaves, 12 lines to the page, written in naskh and diwani scripts in black, red and gold, interlinear gold and silver illumination, opening illuminated headpiece composed of polychrome flowers and split-palmettes, 24 large illuminated sultans' tughras and numerous grand-viziers' tughras, fragments of two firmans of Sultan Mehmed IV (r.1648-87) and Sultan Mahmud I (r.1730-54), with illuminated headpieces laid down within the manuscript, brown leather binding with ropework borders and gilt-punched cintamani motifs  

In good overall condition, abrasions to extremities, occasional stains and smudges, pages generally clean, a few wormholes, illumination bright, as viewed.
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The present manuscript is a work on insha', the art of the secretary, stressing the moral importance of writing. It begins with stating that God had so desired that the religion of Islam and the Shar'ia should be recorded with the pen so that the affairs of Islam and the dealings of men should be arranged accordingly until the day of Judgement. It argues on the basis of saying of 'Ali that writing is the most honourable of all the arts, and that the secretary (katib) is beloved to scholar and a necessity for the military man (emir).

The manuscript also includes the tughras of various Ottoman Sultans, from the sixteenth to the second half of the eighteenth century, up until the reign of Mustafa III, who was on the throne at the time of the manuscript's production between 1759 and 1761. The manuscript incorporates the Imperial tughras of the following Ottoman Sultans:

fl.5a. Sultan Suleyman I (r.1520-66)
fl.9a. Sultan Murad III (r.1574-95, repeated)
fl.9b. Sultan Mehmed IV (r.1648-87)
fl.10b. Sultan Mehmed IV (r.1648-87)
fl.15a. Sultan Mehmed IV (r.1649-87)
fl.17a. Sultan Suleyman II (r.1587-1691)
fl.18b. Sultan Ahmed II (r.1691-95)
fl.20a. Sultan Mustafa II (r.1695-1703)
fl. 21a. Sultan Mustafa II (r.1695-1703)
fl. 22b. Sultan Ahmed III (r.1703-30)
fl. 26b. Sultan Ahmed III (r.1703-30)
fl. 27a. Sultan Ahmed III (r.1703-30)
fl.30b. Sultan Mahmud I (r.1730-54)
fl.34b. Sultan Mahmud I (r.1730-54)
fl.36a. Sultan Osman III (r.1754-57)
fl.37b. Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74), birinci tip 
fl.40a. Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74), birinci tip 
fl.41b. Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74), birinci tip 
fl.43a. Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74), birinci tip 
fl.45a. Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74), birinci tip
fl.46b. Sultan Mustafa III (r.1757-74), ikinci tip
fl.49a. Sultan Mehmed IV (r.1648-87)
fl.52b. Sultan Mehmed IV (r.1648-87)

Folio 14b includes a fragment from a seventeenth-century edict (hatt-ı hümayun) which is inscribed beneath the sarlwah berat-ı hümayun mucebince 'amel oluna, 'to be done according to the title of privilege' (berat). On the opposite page beneath Mehmed IV's tughra is the beginning of a decree in the form of an address to a vizier (destur-ı mükerrem ve müșir-i mufahham). Similarly, folio 34a displays the end of a decree of Sultan Mahmud I (r.1730-54), dated the middle of Sha'ban 1156 AH/October 1743 AD. Folios 61b onwards contain examples of the tughras of numerous grand viziers present at the Ottoman court.