| Long Stories, the book, accompanied a remarkable exhibition of two.exceptionally long and detailed panoramas of the city in the Suna and Inan Kiraç collection at the Istanbul Research Centre (a few doors up from, and closely affiliated with, the Pera Museum in Beyoglu), with detailed notes in Turkish and English on all the sites they contain.
Antoine-Ignace Melling (1763-1831) lived in the city until 1804 exerted a profounded westernising influence on the Ottoman family's attitudes to architecture. Montagu B Dunn, about whom little is known, captures the post-Tanzimat, post-Crimean War city of the later 19th century.
The panoramas themselves are painted in minute detail, requiring a magnifying glass to be appreciated. The book is presented in a box with full size facsimiles of the panoramas. The illustration of details allows one to take a fascinating tour of the city with a most informed companion. Essential for every library. | | |
