Ottoman tulips, Ottoman coffee

de Dana Sajdi

Tulips and coffee are defining cultural products of the Ottoman eighteenth century, along with their related institutions of palace and coffeehouse. These cultural products hold multiple meanings in the history and historiography of the period. They are associated with the daily life of common people and their sociabilities, on the one hand, and with the Ottoman court and imperial legitimacy, on the other. 'Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee' offers a critical exploration of definitive cultural phenomena of the Ottoman eighteenth century, such as, the coffee house, the printing press, imperial architecture and royal pageantry and festivals. Chapters explore subjects ranging from the changing forms of imperial ritual in Ottoman circumcision celebrations, to the history of the construction of the famed palace of Saadabad, to the reputedly failed project of the first Ottoman printing press. In doing so, the book reassesses the history and unravels the historiography of the so-called 'Tulip Period'. Further, the book also reconsiders the coffeehouse to see it as a multifunctional space, which was used variously for such diverse means and ends as a rebel headquarters, a Sufi lodge, police station and racketeering office. Most importantly this book attempts to transcend current debates about the purported Ottoman eighteenth century cultural and political decline and the twin teleologies of Westernization and modernization. It views the Ottoman Empire in its natural geography of Eurasia and sees its interactions as significantly with the East as much as with the West.