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Ottoman BureaucracyPeople, places and careers in Ottoman public service

Job title

Defteri Kebir Kitabeti

Group of job titles: Correspondence and registry

1 official held the job title Defteri Kebir Kitabeti. Its 3 annual entries run from 1906 to 1909 (AH 1324 to 1326). The median of the 3 recorded monthly salaries is 200 kuruş, against 350 kuruş for the whole collection in the same years. The entries name 1 place, Istanbul.

Officials
1
Years on recordAH 1324 to 1326, 3 years with an entry
1906 to 1909
Median monthly salaryfrom 3 recorded salaries
200 kuruş
Places with officials
1

Profile of the group: Correspondence and registry

No source read describes Defteri Kebir Kitabeti by itself, so this is the profile of its group of job titles.

Offices that wrote, copied, registered and kept the papers of a department: correspondence offices (tahrirat), the offices of the corresponding secretary (mektubi), records offices (evrak) and registrars (mukayyit).

Hard skills

  • official writing (kitabet, inşa) and fine handwriting, taught first in the offices and from 1839 in schools for officials

History

Before the reforms clerks were trained in the offices (kalem) themselves. Boys of twelve, or even seven or eight, attended an office and learned the forms of official writing from senior clerks; after three to five years without pay they became supernumeraries (mülazım) on a small salary.

Sources

  1. Akyıldız, Ali (2019). Mekteb-i Maârif-i Adliyye. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, supplement vol. 2 (revised third printing), 236-238. Online copy (read 14 October 2026).Pages or part: 236. Used for: hard skills, history.
  2. Findley, Carter V. (1980). Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Pages or part: 78, 171-172, 199. Used for: summary.
  3. İpşirli, Mehmet (2001). Kalemiye. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24, 248-249. Online copy (read 14 October 2026).Pages or part: 248-249. Used for: hard skills, history.

Places

Places of Defteri Kebir Kitabeti, the place with most officials first
PlaceProvinceOfficialsAnnual entriesYears
Istanbul (Dersaadet)Istanbul (Dersaadet) province131906 to 1909

Ottoman officials recorded

Officials of Defteri Kebir Kitabeti
OfficialYearsAnnual entriesKuruş a monthBirthplace
Hasan Memduh Bey1906 to 19093200Istanbul (Dersaadet)

How to read these records: years and calendars, what first recorded means, gaps between annual entries, and salaries.

Subjects