Description 4°. [29] typescript printed recto on thick paper, with two handmade colour illustrations and 4 lithographed maps coloured in outline within text, 2 full-page colour illustrations in ink pencil, gouache and gilt, 2 original photocopies inserted in plastic sleeves within text, 1 mounted black and white photo with 4 images and title handwritten in ink, 1 mounted hand coloured black and white photo, 4 mounted lithographs in sepia, 2 originally coloured 19th century lithographs, mounted under mats, 2 originally coloured 19th century etchings, mounted under mats. All the pages with printed green line in white margins. Inserted in a contemporary linen binding with marbled end-papers. (Very Good, 4 photocopies of letters missing from plastic sleeves inserted within text, lacking title page?) This is an unusual, privately elaborately made script in German language, describing the postal history in Bosnia in the Ottoman Empire. The text, typed in black, is accompanied with a miniature hand-drawn portrait of Sultan Mahmud II (1785 –1839) in gilt initial D, a hand-drawn image of a Bosnian merchant hall and quarantine, a full-page hand-drawn portrait of an Ottoman field marshal and governor of Serbian origin Omar Pasha Latas (1806–1871), and a full-page handdrawn portrait of Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha (c. 1478 – 1546), an Ottoman admiral of the fleet. Four small hand coloured maps within text have drawn in details and are accompanied by 2 photocopies of examples of letters (4 are missing). A black and white photo showcases four Turkish postal ministers between 1872-1878. A full-page photograph, which has been hand coloured to give it more authentic appearance, shows a drawing of Bosnian costumes, signed by a Croatian nobleman Baron Josef Philipp Vukassovich (Josip Filip Vukasović, 1755 – 1809), who fought for Habsburg Monarchy against both Ottoman Empire and the First French Republic. The last images in the book are original 19th century lithographs representing 9 views of Bosnian cities, and 4 original 19th century coloured etchings and lithographs, showcasing Bosnian costumes. The latter have been mounted under plastic foils and mats. The author, place or year of this detailed, demandingly illustrated work is not known, but was according to the paper probably made in the 1950s or 1960s in Vienna, which was throughout the centuries connected to the Ottoman Empire. Provenience: From a collection of Friedrich «Fritz» Stockinger (1894-1968) an Austrian minister for economy and traffic between 1933-1936. The book appeared in at least two auctions (1977 and ?). Latter collection of Harry Schaefer, a collector of the postal history, Ottoman Empire and the Balkans.
