The Ottoman atlas by Mahmoud Raif Efendi titled Cedid Atlas Tercumesi (A translation of a New Atlas) is one of only 50 ever produced.
It is thought this copy was brought back to Britain by Sitwell family member General Lord Hely-Hutchinson during his military campaigns in the Middle East. As the remaining copies were partially destroyed in a warehouse fire during the Janissary revolt of 1807-08, in which Raif himself was killed, it is thought that a maximum of only 20 survive.
Featuring a hand-coloured, engraved pictorial title with the tughra (monogram) of Sultan Selim III, the text is in Ottoman Turkish with 24 hand-coloured terrestrial maps and a plain celestial chart. It is stamped and dated 1804.
The atlas is estimated to fetch £20,000-30,000 at the November 16-17 sale titled Weston Hall and the Sitwells: A Family Legacy at Dreweatts.
