Nazlıs't Guestbook is a study based on a notebook kept by Nazlı, the daughter of Osman Hamdi Bey, between the years 1907 and 1911. The notebook includes short dedications or signatures from individuals in her close circle. Compiled by Edhem Eldem, the work investigates the identities of the people mentioned in the notebook and explores their relationships with Nazlı and especially with her father, Osman Hamdi Bey, aiming to shed light on the intellectual environment of late Ottoman Westernization.

Author

Edhem Eldem is a former faculty member of the Department of History at Boğaziçi University. His research focuses on Ottoman history, particularly the cultural history of the late Ottoman period, archaeology, and modernization processes. In this book, Eldem employs prosopographic methods and detailed biographical analyses to understand the social network surrounding Osman Hamdi Bey.

Summary

Nazlıs't Guestbookis based on a memory book kept by young Nazlı Hamdi between 1907 and 1911. The notebook contains dedications or signatures from Nazlı’s close relatives, family friends, and people she visited. However, Edhem Eldem emphasizes that the notebook was not created with the intention of being a systematic record; rather, it is a spontaneous and informal document. The roughly thirty-three dedications and signatures included in the notebook offer clues about the social circle of both Osman Hamdi Bey and his daughter.

^{Osman Hamdi, His Daughter Nazlı, and His Granddaughter Nimet (Source: Nazlı’s Notebook, p. 44)}

In the book, the identities of the signatories are thoroughly researched, and separate sections are devoted to each individual. Most of these people come from Osman Hamdi Bey’s cultural, artistic, and scientific circles, particularly from the fields of archaeology and art. Many of the figures in the notebook are of French and German origin. The presence of women is minimal, with the majority of dedications written by men. In terms of geography, locations such as Eskihisar, Munich, and Paris are highlighted as settings in which the notebook was compiled.

^{Nazlıs't Guestbook Exhibition (Pattu)}

Eldem underlines that the notebook does not allow for a comprehensive understanding of either Osman Hamdi Bey’s biography or Nazlı Hamdi’s personal life. Instead, through the notebook’s limited and incidental information, he traces the social networks of the era to offer insights into the daily lives and cultural circles of a select segment of Ottoman society undergoing modernization.

Historiographical Significance

Nazlı’s Notebook contributes to the cultural and intellectual history of late Ottoman society on a micro-historical level, rather than presenting a direct political narrative. Studying the personal circle of a Westernized Ottoman intellectual like Osman Hamdi Bey provides an important lens into how the modernization process was experienced both individually and socially.

^{Nazlıs't Guestbook Exhibition (ARTtv)}

The work combines biographical and prosopographical methods in historiography to reveal the social networks of Ottoman elites and their intellectual ties with Europe. Moreover, its use of incidental and fragmented documents serves as an example of how alternative sources can be utilized in historical writing. Eldem’s method introduces a new approach that allows for cultural analysis beyond the scope of traditional documents.