The "Vankulu Dictionary" ("Vankulu Lügati"), the first book ever published in the Ottoman Empire in 1729, is now on display for visitors at the Küçükçekmece Municipality's "Autographed Books Museum."
Today, this dictionary is still highly valuable as a reference resource for the analysis of literature and language from that era. As a translation work, originally written in Arabic 800 years ago by Ismail Cevheri, it was translated into Turkish by Vankulu Mehmet Efendi during the Ottoman period and took two years to complete. The translation was published by Ibrahim Müteferrika, the founder of Turkish printing.
The first printing press belonging to Muslims was started by Ibrahim Müteferrika in 1727 during the Tulip Period, when the Ottoman industrial revolution began. Said Efendi, who was the son of Ottoman statesman Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmed Efendi, accompanied his father during his visit to Paris as his stenographer and admired the printing houses in Paris. In the following period, he assigned Ibrahim Müteferrika to build a similar one in Ottoman lands.
The dictionary was published in two volumes and had a greater impact than expected, becoming a popular reference book for general readers besides being used for madrasah education. The book received a lot of interest and excitement almost three centuries ago.
In addition to the dictionary, there are 386 first-edition books signed by the author in the permanent exhibition area of Cennet Culture and Art Center, which aims to create first-hand basic sources of Türkiye's visual art history and to contribute to the city's cultural heritage and offer new perspectives on literature through its collection of rare and signed books.
The museum also features the 2020 Nobel Prize-winning American poet Louise Glück's book "Vita Nova." Visitors can view these works for a period of one month.
