The book contains, a part from descriptions of various European cities, an engraving of Istanbul occupying two pages. The picture of Istanbul in this book, which was published in German, Latin, Italian and French until 1628, represented a sort of bird's eye view of the city from the Anatolian side. The original of this picture, which appeared in thirty editions over a period of eighty years, was in fact a woodcut. This was published in about 1520 by Giovanni Andrea Vavassore, who is known to have worked as an editor in Venice. In these engravings of Istanbul, first seen in Münster's work and then in the extended editions of the book published in Cologne by Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg, the presence of the Fatih Mosque and surrounding buildings and, on the other hand, the absence of the Bayezid Mosque complex, completed in 1505, demonstrate that the source of these engravings must have been a picture executed towards the end of the 15th century, between the construction dates of these two great mosques. This picture, in the various engravings of which small differences can be detected, constitutes an important document as far as many details of Istanbul, the great Turkish capital, are concerned. It can be seen in the engraving that the Kadtrga Harbour was still being usedas a shipyard. The Fatih Mosque and surrounding buildings, the Tekfur palace with its roof still intact, the walls which surrounded it in Bayezit ,the Old Palace (Saray-i Atik), the walls surrounding the New Palace (Saray-i Cedid), only referred to as the Topkapi Palace in the comparatively recent past, the shops in the BuyOk car~i, the streets, and the Hippodrome, which although it is in a semi-ruined state, has been shown as a semi-circular structure on the Marmara side, are all marked in this engraving However, the buildings inside the walls of the Topkapt Palace are a production of the imagination. In some versions of this engraving there is a row of sultan's portraits at the bottom. The last of these, all of which are in round frames, is that of Selim II, who died in 1574. In other editions the last sultan to be depicted is Murad III (1574-1595). It would be deceptive to assume from these details that this picture dated from the reign of Selim II or Murad III. However, in spite of everything, these pictures,, which are referred to as the Vavassore, MOnster or Braun-Hogenberg engravings, provide a valuable record of the Istanbul of the early 16th century.

As far as the Italian Pietro Della Valle, who wrote letters about Istanbul between 1614 and 1615, was concerned,the streets of the city were dirty and full of potholes and the houses did not look solid. This sentence demonstrates that, according to Della VaIle,the inside of the city "was not in keeping with its beautiful exterior". A Spanish priest, Otavio Sapienca, noted that the exteriors of the houses were not appealing. On the other hand the Flemish traveller De Stochove, who visited Istanbul in 1630,states that upon seeing the city he forgot all the fatigue and hardships of the journey; But like all the other travellers, he complains of the narrowness of its streets and the small and, unassuming appearance of its houses. In the books of travels written by two French travellers, Du Loir, who was in Istanbul from 1639 to1641, and de Monconys, who arrived in 1648, there are long descriptions of the works of Turkish architecture adorning the city. In the same years another Frenchman, Jean de Thevenot, mentions the discrepancies between the exterior and interior view of the city. He gives detailed information about its commercial buildings, palaces, fires and public baths, in short, about everything that is Turkish. Laurent d'Arvieux, who came here in 1672 as an official at the French embassy, states that because he had previously lived in other Islamic countries he had no difficulty in harmonising with his surroundings andwas able to comprehend the spirit of this city far better than that of the others. This Frenchman, who adopted the Ottoman mode of dress, took long walks on the cypress-covered hills and strolled among the small houses on the hillsides, experiencing the beauty peculiar to them and falling in love with it all. Robert de Dreux, appoin- ted chaplain to the French embassy, explored Istanbul between 1665 and 1669. "I cannot remember having seen anything so beautiful," he says, continuing with these words: "There are seven hills in the city on the peninsula, and on the summit of each of these hills, which give the impression of having been created especially for the purpose, there is a large Inosque...

The houses are surrounded with evergreen trees such as cypresses and pines. However, one is forced to confess that however attractive the city may appear from the outside its interior is, on the contrary, extremely ugly. The roads are bad, and because of the hilly nature of the place they are not level. However, the rooms of houses whose exteriors are not in the least attractive are comfortable and very clean. On the other hand the shopping centres... the hospitals, the palaces and mosques are all beautiful buildings he remarks in conclusion. G. Joseph Grelot. who visited Istanbul, which he described as the city of wonders at about the same time, adorned his book of travels with both general views of the city and with engravings of some of the mosques. The Frenchman Jacob Spcn and the Englishman Smith. who managed to endow their travelogues with an unpleasantly pedantic air, and the Frenchman Jouin de Rochefort, who compared Istanbul to all the cities of Europe. both large and small, between Amsterdam and Warsaw are personages who visited Istanbul in 1675 or thereabouts.