Dutch historian Jan Schmidt’s study of the Ottoman Empire has spanned some forty years and this two-volume collection offers a selection of his labours. Schmidt’s primary love is for Ottoman history, literature and historiography and he expresses this passion throughout. The two volumes are divided into six parts, three per book, each containing several articles. Schmidt begins with poetry, analysing four works of Ottoman verse. The second part consists of two historiographical essays, one on the problem of sources for military history and the second on an Ottoman history writer. Third, Schmidt looks at biography writing in the Ottoman Empire. Fourth are six articles concerning Orientalism and Orientalists. Fifth is a part on travellers and merchants in the Ottoman Empire. Finally, the sixth part is dedicated to political relations between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Each essay generally centres around a particular document that Schmidt has uncovered during his archival work.