Beginning in 2007, with the support of a grant from the British Academy, the BIAA Library began actively collecting materials in Ottoman and Contemporary Turkish Studies. Since then, the collection has grown to include approximately 3,000 monographs consisting primarily of secondary literature in English and Turkish. The collection is further enhanced by several significant rare books, as well as a Qur’an manuscript likely produced in the late eighteenth or nineteenth century.
The collection focuses primarily on the late Ottoman Empire and the early Republic, while also encompassing more contemporary subjects such as Turkish cinema, photography and environmental studies. Select materials relating to former Ottoman territories in North Africa and the Levant are also sought.