This Hakluyt Society volume pairs two English diaries from the Ottoman world. Thomas Dallam, an organ builder, sailed to Constantinople in 1599 to deliver and play a mechanical organ sent by Queen Elizabeth to the Sultan; John Covel, chaplain to the English embassy, recorded life at the Porte in the 1670s. Bent’s introduction traces the Levant Company that made such journeys possible.
Two eyewitness accounts of England’s first dealings with the Ottoman court, rich in incident and odd detail. Download the free EPUB.