This book was first conceived as a dissertation project during my PhD studies at Harvard University between 2009 and 2016, and throughout its course, it has greatly benefited from the support of many people. Professors Gülru Necipoğlu, David Roxburgh, Cemal Kafadar and Emine Fetvacı have been a source of inspiration and constant support throughout the project. Both Professors Necipoğlu and Roxburgh took me under their wings and gave generously of their time to support and advise me over many years; I am deeply indebted to both. I am also very grateful for the encouragement of Tülay Artan—particularly for opening my eye to the weird and the humorous. More recently, Heghnar Watenpaugh has been a major source of inspiration as well. I must also thank Lale Uluç, Serpil Bağcı, Zeren Tanındı, Filiz Çağman, Günsel Renda for their keen observations and helpful comments. I would also like to thank my anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.
I am also grateful to András Riedlmayer for his assistance finding obscure sources, and Himmet Taşkömür, Sooyong Kim, and Leili Vatani for their help with poetry, where I have lacked the eloquence. I would also like to thank Sasson Chahanovich, Gwendolyn Collaço, Daria Kovaleva, Mira Xenia Schwerda, Simon P. Watmough, and Melis Evcimik who have tirelessly read and commented on particular chapters. In addition to their comments, they have been a great support in the long and complex process of bringing this book to publication. I must also thank Jaimee Comstock-Skipp, Cumhur Bekar, and Gizem Tongo Overfield-Shaw for photographing several manuscripts at the Bodleian and Leiden University libraries. Throughout the course of the dissertation and the book project I have had the opportunity to meet wonderful friends and I cannot express my gratitude enough for them. I am grateful for the support of Ehjeen Kim, Aslıhan Gürbüzel, Eda Özel, Akif Yerlioğlu, Özlem Altınkaya-Genel, Veronika Poier, and Eda Çakmakçı.
Research for this project was made possible through the generous grants from the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, the Harvard Damon Dilley Fund, and the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, and Özyeğin University—which allowed me to undertake manuscript and archival research in various European and North American libraries, and most importantly at the Topkapı Palace Museum Library—without which this book would not have materialized. I am especially thankful to Zeynep Çelik Atbaş and all the staff at the Topkapı, particularly Esra Müyesseroğlu, for their generosity, trust and endless cups of tea. The continuous interest and warmth shown me by this dedicated library staff made my time there something I will always remember very fondly. From the team at the ticket gate to the guards in the library, I extend my sincere thanks.
I would also like to thank Elaine Wright for her amazing generosity. I have visited the Chester Beatty Library several times during my research and everyone in the library has been incredibly friendly, making it a joy to work there. I greatly appreciate the support of Dürdane Çayır and Tuba Önen at the Museum of Ethnography in Ankara, and of both Caitlin McKenna and Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York. I am also deeply indebted to the curators and staff at the Uppsala University Library, the New York Public Library, the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, the Biblitohèque nationale de France, Paris, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the British Library, London.
Last, but definitely not least, I thank Nazlı and Alper Özgen and my family for being a constant love and support, for their endless trust and faith in me and for everything that cannot be expressed in words. My mother and father have been my biggest supporters in everything. Without their love and patience, this book would not have materialized, and it is to them that I dedicate this work.