Abstract:

Qari RahmatullahVozeh was a poet, doctor, scientist, and statesman who lived in Bukhara in the 19th century. He was well educated, and being fluent in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish (both Chagatai and Anatolian Turkish), he wrote poems in all three languages. He has written thirteen books and his most important work was the Tohfe-tul Ahbab fi Tadhkira-tul As’hab. In the period between the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, Tohfe-tul Ahbab fi Tadhkira-tul As’hab was one of the most important works from amongst the seven poetry anthologies written in the Khanate of Bukhara. Written in a biographical form, the work has been an important source of reference to all subsequent anthological works and literary history books written after it. There are fifteen manuscript copies of this work which are available in the variouslibraries of Tashkent, Dushanbe, St. Petersburg. In addition, the work was published twice, first, in Tashkent in 1914 and subsequently in Dushanbe in 1977. In this study, first of all, the definition of a poetry anthology was made and the historical development of the tradition of writing anthologies in Persian and Turkish languages was examined. In the subsequent sections, this particular anthology was analyzed by giving a detailed information about the author and his work. After the analysis, the comparative text, Turkish translation and the facsimile of the anthology were highlighted. In the conclusion, the historical development of anthologies and the place and importance of Tohfe-tul Ahbab fi Tadhkira-tul As’hab in this development were emphasized.

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