Book ownership across centuries: the case of military men in Bursa, 1620-1840

Based on probate inventories (tereke) from the Bursa kadi court, this article analyzes the book collections of the military population from the seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries. The article traces the patterns of book ownership over two centuries, giving special attention to Janissary preferences for books and comparing their preferences with those of other social groups. Combining statistical and qualitative analysis, the article addresses questions such as: How large were book collections, and which types of books were most often found in beşe and ağa collections? How did book ownership change over time? Did Bursa’s urban and rural populations differ in their consumption of books, and in their tastes? What was the relationship between wealth and book ownership?