This exceptional work of collaborative scholarship provides a fascinating and insightful view into the state of Ottoman studies, and asserts the continuing importance of francophone scholarship in a field that seems often thoroughly dominated by les Anglo-Saxon(ne)s. Compiled under the direction of three of the most notable French Ottomanists and Turkicists – François Georgeon, Nicolas Vatin and the late Gilles Veinstein – this formidable volume brings together 177 scholars from across the world, from all different generations, to provide important snapshots into the state of scholarship on a wide variety of subjects. As the introduction notes, this dictionary aims to add to and update the seminal Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman edited by Robert Mantran and published in 1989. It also takes its place alongside other dictionary projects, notably those of Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters (Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, 2009) and Selçuk Akşın Somel (A–Z of the Ottoman Empire, 2003 and Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire, 2012). It also follows in a tradition of earlier Ottoman dictionaries, notably geographic ones, such as the Dictionnaire Géographique de l'Empire Ottoman (1873) of the former Russian consul in Izmir, C. Mostras, and the globally focused Kamusü’l-a'lâm of Şemseddin Sami (1889–98). It is honest in that it does not hope nor try to cover everything, and what is covered must necessarily be succinct.

Reviewing a historical dictionary is not an easy task, and the few words I can use here cannot do justice to the depth and scale of the work that has gone into producing this volume. Just a cursory flick through its pages is enough to keep one detained for a good while, and the disjointed experience of shifting from one space, time, individual, theme, or idea to another is perhaps as authentic an experience of the complexity of the Ottoman state and its various histories that one can get. Indeed, there is something quite refreshing in spending some time reading about a discrete subject, to then be suddenly transported to a quite different topic altogether, often in a rather different style of writing and historical focus. Permit me to take you on such a journey. My copy of this book opens quite randomly to the article on Papier (François Déroche), where we learn much about the history, connectivity, and materiality of paper and its production from the fifteenth into the nineteenth century. A star next to Fatwa catches my eye, and I move to Colin Imber's masterful exposition on the form and purpose of fetava in the Ottoman context in the early modern period. Below this, I find Nicolas Vatin's fascinating discussion on Fauconnerie that considers the centrality of this activity to palace life and function within state–province relations, in part linked to the timar system. Jumping over to Timar, a double contribution sees Irène Beldiceanu-Steinherr consider their development as a military fief, followed by Michael Ursinus taking the story further by evaluating the system's evolutions and mutations from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. This is followed by one of a number of entries that will be of great use to students of all levels, Nicolas Vatin's guided tour through the often confusing maze of Titres Usuels.

I could go on and, indeed, over the past few months have spent many an hour taking such journeys through this text. There are some real gems in here, such as Paul Dumont's contribution on Tourisme, Faruk Bilici's discussion of the Köprülü family, and Robert Dankoff's excellent overview of Evliya Çelebi. Many of the entries that were the most enjoyable to read were those that may not (depending on one's usual area of research, of course) often present themselves in one's line-of-sight, so that I learned much and was encouraged to read more by, for instance, Işık Tamdoğan's piece on the Lutte, Olivier Schmitt on Skanderbeg, and Nedim Gürsel's little entry on Kaygusuz Abdal. The themes covered are not only pretty comprehensive within the Ottoman world, but do a good job of providing wider contexts, with entries on most of the relevant European states (although there are some notable absences; for instance, there is an entry for Allemagne by Dorothée Guillemarre but none on Prussia), and other ideas and figures such as Grecs: Littérature et Civilization Néohellénique by Alexis Politis and Martin Luther by Matei Cazacu. Indeed, if one is left wanting for anything in terms of content, it would be for a bit more detail and a wider range of options within some of the bibliographies, to include both old and new scholarship, specifically for some of the more in-depth entries. This, however, is a very minor point, reflective of this volume's ability to inspire a thirst for further reading into the topics of its articles, and indeed, the majority of the bibliographic lists provide very helpful jumping-off points to swim off into the wide waters of Ottoman scholarship.

The wealth of information contained in this dictionnaire, and the clarity and depth of the entries, makes this a truly exciting book to explore, and will be something that students (assuming, of course, that their French is à la hauteur) will value as a resource. As well as the large number of entries covering a superb range of subjects, the 75-page index is in itself a valuable resource for navigating the volume's contents and exploring different topics and themes. What articles might be missing will only be discovered by those looking for something specific, but readers would be hard-pressed to find a subject that is not touched upon in some way. The content of the individual entries in terms of style, structure, analysis, and bibliography vary almost by author, but this is important as an indicator of how multifaceted studies on the Ottoman Empire are depending on discipline, research expertise, and methodological approach. As the editors themselves noted in their introduction (p. 8), “Sometimes, different perspectives may arise between two articles. Rather than being a flaw, one should see this as a boon; Ottoman history is vibrant, animated by ‘schools’ and by researchers who collaborate and debate”. More than this, the dictionnaire is important as a showcase that such collaborations and debates are and should be conducted outside of the anglophone hegemony.