Istanbul Encyclopedia now available online

The printed volumes of Reşad Ekrem Koçu's "Istanbul Encyclopedia" and thousands of related archival sources have been digitized and are now online.

The website, istanbulansiklopedisi.org, offers access to the printed volumes of Koçu's Istanbul Encyclopedia and thousands of related documents. Bringing together over 40,000 digitized documents, this online platform incorporates published encyclopedia articles and a body of archival material that forms the basis for subsequent volumes. It provides an opportunity to trace and explore the visual and textual connections between various sources.

The website is launched as an output of the Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive project, following the exhibition "No Further Records" and an e-publication of the same title. Blending common facts with unusual accounts, the Istanbul Encyclopedia — and the relevance of the knowledge it entails — is worthy of further scrutiny.

The Istanbul Encyclopedia is a comprehensive work to which historian and novelist Koçu (1905-1975) devoted most of his life, yet never completed. Koçu set out to create, in his own words, the "grand register" of Istanbul in 1944 and continued his extensive study throughout his life. Originally planned to be published in 24 volumes, the encyclopedia's first 11 volumes up to the letter G were printed intermittently until 1973.

From streets to architectural structures, from important or common people and the customs of the city to historical events and urban legends, numerous subjects were recorded through story-like narratives and illustrations. A collaborative work of esteemed historians, literary scholars, academics, and artists of the period, the Istanbul Encyclopedia presents a unique blend of the tezkire [biographical...