ABOUT DELTIAN LIBRARY
Deltian Library was founded with the mission to preserve, study, and share historical works with a wider audience. Established in 2016 by Efe Metin Çetin, the Library began modestly in the Balat district of Ä°stanbul, with the acquisition of rare books and historical texts from local street vendors.
Deltian Library's first ever mark, derived from the device of Jean de Tournes. Learn more.
It began as a private collection, assembled book by book rather than acquired as a set. It has since grown into a research-oriented rare book operation with holdings and activity based in Ottawa, Canada, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The collection centers on European printing from the 16th and 17th centuries, with particular depth in the Estienne and Elzevir presses. Its work is not limited to acquisition and preservation; each item is studied for its bibliographic, textual, and historical context, and that research informs both its cataloguing and its contributions to the wider field.
Balat, Ä°stanbul / Türkiye.
COLLECTIONS OF THE LIBRARY
The first item acquired for what would become Deltian Library was George Ellis's Specimens of Early Metrical Romances (1811). The volume itself is unassuming, both in scarcity and monetary value, but it marks the point at which a personal interest in old books became a deliberate collection, and it remains the earliest acquisition by date of purchase.
The majority of the holdings, by volume, are housed in Ä°stanbul. The antique and rare collections, however, are based in the Netherlands, reflecting the current centre of research activity.
Within the rare collections, the core focus is 16th-century printing, with a particular concentration on editions from the Estienne press. A secondary but substantial collection is devoted to the Elzevir press. Beyond these two sit a number of smaller, more focused collections, formed around individual printers, subjects, or periods of interest, developing alongside the primary Estienne holdings.
