Our book collection is improved and enriched in line with the IMM Directorate of Libraries and Museums enhancement policy, which aims to appeal to all ages and demographics.
The collection includes history, literature, political science, philosophy, research, art reviews, informatics, technology, science, religions and belief, self-improvement, cultural heritage, architecture and design books, and children's books. Thanks to the newly opening neighbourhood libraries, Istanbul residents can easily access this collection from their local neighbourhoods.
In addition to the book collection, the rare works collection is also quite rich. These works include Muallim Cevdet manuscripts, land registry books, foundation books, and 1,130 works from the field of History and literature. There are 5251 manuscripts in 2081 volumes, together with Osman Ergin manuscripts, printed books in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and foreign languages. There are 8,454 volumes of manuscripts acquired through various donations and purchases. And manuscripts on many different subjects, such as the notes of the War of Independence, the Ottoman-Greek War, and the notes of the Iraqi Front in the First World War.
The collection also includes all books published in Müteferrika Printing House, primarily Vankulu Lügati, and 8 Hebrew books printed in the Istanbul Jewish printing house (the first printing house of the Ottoman Empire), as well as the Mekece Foundation Charter of Orhan Gazi, which is one of the oldest works of the library (H.724-M.1324).
Oskan Mardikyan Efendi, one of the Ottoman Telegraph and Postal Service Ministers, is one of the key donors of Armenian works. The Atatürk Library has the richest collection of Armenian works in a Turkish library.
The Atatürk Library map archive is the largest and oldest map archive of Istanbul. The archive dates back to the 16th century, and includes Beyoğlu maps from the period of Sultan Abdülaziz, Huber's plans for Beyoğlu, Jacques Pervititich's insurance maps, the ‘German Blues’, which depict the public architectural structures of Istanbul between 1913-1914, and maps of Charles Edouard Goad, who made the first insurance maps of Istanbul.
The archive contains almost all newspapers and magazines from the Ottoman periodical press, and the major periodicals of the Republic of Turkey. These include interesting collections such as Vakayi-i Mısriye (Egyptian Affairs), Calendar-i Vekayi (Calendar of Events), Tercüman-ı Ahval (Interpreter of Conditions), Ceride-i Havadis (Journal of News), Anin-i Mazlum (Anin-i Mazloum), Mümeyyiz (Examiner), Diogenes, Badiye, and Varlık. As part of the project "Cataloguing, Digitalization and Presentation of Rare Works in Electronic Environment ", images of 4,881 complete manuscripts are now available to members free of charge online.
Among the collections, the following names attract attention: Muallim Cevdet, Osman Ergin, Cevdet Paşa, Fatma Aliye Hanım, Laika Karabey, Muhsin Ertuğrul, Pertevniyal Valide Sultan, M. Seyfettin Özege, Milli Mecmua Sahibi Mehmet Mesih Bey, İbnü’l-Emin Mahmud Kemal İnal, Safiye Hüseyin Elbi, Celal Esat Arseven, Ernest Mamboury, Nurullah Ataç, Ali Sami Aközer, Hıfzı Tevfik Gönensay, Fahrettin Türkkan Paşa, and Hüsrev Tayla.
Atatürk Library has publications in 35 different languages including Arabic, Greek, Kurdish, Bosnian, Persian, Arabic, French, and English. Periodicals include newspapers, magazines, statistics, annuals, bulletins, calendars, reports, and minutes. All works with Armenian letters and in Armenian are catalogued.
Atatürk Library collaborated with institutions such as SALT to catalogue and digitize the French newspapers and magazines of the Ottoman period French press published between 1845 and 1930, which were in the collections of the library.
