88 - Bahrheit: Vaticinia Turcica oder Weissagungen von Turkischen Reiche,von Alters von einigen Mannern verfetiget,nunmehro zur Erlauterung des sogenannten Turkenkrieges von einem Liebhaber der Wahreit ans licht gestellet. Berlin, 1772

Bahrheit: Vaticinia Turcica oder Weissagungen von Turkischen Reiche,von Alters von einigen Mannern verfetiget,nunmehro zur Erlauterung des sogenannten Turkenkrieges von einem Liebhaber der Wahreit ans licht gestellet. Berlin, 1772 First and only edition, in 8vo, modern hard paper covers. Complete: 72 p. Some light browning and worming with loss of a few letters on several pages, some pages stabilized. Overall, almost very good. One of the strangest accounts for the Levant, written by the German Philhellene Bahrheit. As the Russians advanced and the final crushing of the Ottomans seemed very probable during the war of 1768-1774, this account, written in 1772, attempted to remind readers that the fall of the Ottoman Empire had long been prophesied and that the time for its fulfillment was approaching. In fact, there was a concrete prophecy: since the early 17th century, the chronicler Paisios Ligaridis (c.1610-1678) had clearly stated that the Roman (Byzantine) Empire would be restored 320 years after the fall of Constantinople (that is, in 1773). As the Russo-Turkish war was devastating for the Ottomans, many believed the moment was at hand. The account provides unique additional information for the Levant, including a letter dated 1710 from Mavrocordatos, then a minister of the Porte, to the Scarlatos family in Greece, mentioning a possible Russian attempt to attack Constantinople via the Dardanelles and predicting that the Ottomans would be defeated. This astonishingly predated the Orlov campaign by 60 years, exactly matching the situation of the early 1770s. A unique account, blending Philhellenism and actual valuable information with prophecies about the fall of the Ottomans and the restoration of Byzantium. Such prophecies were courant even among the Turks. Only three copies are recorded in public libraries worldwide (two in Germany), and it appears not to have surfaced in the past 45 years. Rare.