Pierre MacKay's recent publication about the 17th-century Seyahatname or 'Travel Journal' by Turkish traveller Evliy芒 脟elebi has confirmed his reputation as one of the leading experts on this text. The following, translated by Google with many revisions by Professor MacKay, is an excerpt from a recent book about 脟elebi:
In 1975, Pierre A. MacKay, Professor of 海角网 and of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Washington (Emeritus) recognized the significance of the Seyahatname (Travel Journal)in the larger framework of the Ottoman intellectual world. Following Franz Taeschner, MacKay wrote a detailed study of the contents and the physical condition of manuscripts of the Seyahatname.* He confirmed Richard Kreutel's identification of the "Baghdad Kiosk, series S" manuscripts as the author鈥檚 original archetype, copied by a secretary under the supervision of Evliya 脟elebi himself. MacKay has recently (2008) shown that, contrary to past beliefs, when he relied on his own observations Evliya gave precise and remarkably accurate information about roads and distances in the Seyahatname**
Tezcan, Nuran, and Semih Tezcan, Evliy芒 脟elebi, Ankara: 2011, p. 79.
* "The manuscripts of the Seyahatname of Evliy芒 脟elebi. Part 1. The
Archetype." Der Islam 1975 : 52, 278--298.
** "Real and Fictitious Journeys in Evliy芒 脟elebi's Seyahatname:
Some examples from Book VIII," Journal of Turkish Literature, 2009, 6:110-29;
"Evliy芒 脟elebi's use of Ottoman Geographers in the Seyahatname,"
in Evliy芒 脟elebi's Written Sources (Evliy芒 脟elebi'nin Yaz谋l谋 Kaynaklar谋),
Karateke, Hasan and Hatice Aynur, eds., Ankara: 2012, 92-103.