Ottoman copybooks of correspondence and miscellanies as a source for political and cultural history

Chancery manuals, copybooks of correspondence, and other bound miscellanies of the classical Ottoman period are a rich, yet insufficiently known and underutilised resource for the study of political and cultural history. This essay describes the origins, types, contents and uses of these manuscript compilations, their cultural and historical significance, and some ideas concerning the circumstances of their production. Following a discussion of the potential of primary sources of this kind for political and cultural history, the essay concludes with an extensive annotated bibliography outlining the state of research on the subject.