Very rare edition, possibly the first, of the Ottoman capitulations agreed between a French envoy on behalf of King Louis XV of France and a grand vizier on behalf of Sultan Mahmud I of the Ottoman Empire on 4 Rabi al-Awwal 1153 AH (30 May 1740 CE). We have located only three other copies: in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek and Harvard's Houghton Library. This particular agreement comprises eighty-five articles, nearly all concerning the granting of trade, economic and legal rights favourable to France. It was mostly a renewal of articles previously agreed upon, but includes some newly introduced articles.
The capitulations are a type of treaty by which foreign people are given certain privileges, mostly relating to trade and transportation, over or even at the expense of native citizens. These treaties did facilitate mutually beneficial commercial and financial contracts for the parties involved, considering an evolving global marketplace, for example by minimizing the transaction costs, taxes etc. of their exchanges. The foreign power often bought their influence, benefitting local government officials partly at the expense of the people they were supposed to govern.
"The Ottoman-French Treaty of 1740 marked the apogee of French influence in the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century. In the following years the French had an unchallenged position in Levant trade and in transportation between Ottoman ports." (Olson p. 75). The Ottomans first made capitulations to France in 1569, first as a strategy European powers used to eliminate the risk of falling victim to Ottoman raids and later to gain influence over Ottoman trade. These Ottoman-French treaties were renewed and amended several times from the 16th to the 19th century until they were abolished as a whole with the Treaty of Lausanne of 1922-1923 (which also ended the Greco-Turkish War and defined the modern borders of Turkey).
Binding shows signs of wear, slight foxing throughout, otherwise in good condition. Europeana (1 copy, Österreichische NB); WorldCat 612814438 (1 copy, Harvard) and 165919643 (1 copy, Bayerische SB); on the treaty: Olson, Robert. "The Ottoman-French treaty of 1740: a year to be remembered?", in: Imperial meanderings and republican by-ways: essays on eighteenth century Ottoman and twentieth century history of Turkey. (2010) pp. 75-82.