The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection
at
Bridwell
Library
September 8 - December 12, 2009
First Turkish New Testament
[New Testament. Turkish-Osmanli]. Translated by Ali Bey. [Paris: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1819].
The first translation of the New Testament into Turkish was completed in 1666 by Ali Bey (Albertus Bobowsky), a Polish convert to Islam who became the chief translator of Sultan Muhammad IV. Based on a French Protestant version, Bey’s translation was commissioned by Levin Warner, the Dutch ambassador to Istanbul, who brought a manuscript of the entire Turkish Bible to the Netherlands for publication. Although parts of the Pentateuch were published in 1739, the New Testament did not appear in print until this first edition of 1819.