Latifî


Latifî, or Kastamonulu Latifî Çelebi, was an Ottoman poet and bibliographer. Born in Kastamonu, in northern Anatolia, he became famous for his tezkire Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara, the second Ottoman collection of bibliographical data on poets and poetry in overall.
Latifî was born Abdüllatif Hatibzâde into a notable family in Kastamonu and was educated there. He worked as accountant and katib in various vakifs, including Belgrade, Constantinople, Rhodes, and Egypt.
His major work was Tezkiretü'ş-Şuara, which was the second tezkire in chronological order after that of Sehi Bey. It is also the one with most extent copies, 91 in total. The tezkire was organized in three sections with an introduction. It narrated the life and work of around 300 poets of the period from the reign of Murad II until 1543, and was finished and presented it to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1546. The Sultan was so pleased that he appointed Latifi as secretary at the "Ayyub al-Ansari" complex endowment. According to Aşık Çelebi's work Senses of Poets, the poet wrote it mostly during the era of Suleiman, but presented it to Murad III in 1574 after making minor changes to the introduction.
Another important work of him was Evsaf-ı İstanbul written in 1525. It gives a historical overview on the city of Istanbul, intertwined with geographical data, and information on the city's neighborhoods, architecture, and social life.
Latifi spent the last years of his life in Istanbul. He died by drowning when the ship he was traveling to Yemen sank in the Red Sea.