Kamondo Han
Of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs Nissim de Camondo fame, the Camondo family owned a great number of buildings in Constantinople—Kamondo Han being a notable one—before relocating to Paris in the second half of the 19th century. While in Constantinople the family had prospered greatly and become the prime banker to the Ottoman Empire.
Four versions, a Turkish and English edition in both soft- and hard-cover were published by Beyoğlu AŞ.
Another group of books intended as gifts to the new tenants of Kamondo Han restored by Beyoğlu AŞ have an image of a doorbell marked with the name of the new owner on the book cover.
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The light blue cloth used on the hard-cover edition refers to the colour that Jews were required to
wear during Ottoman times.
The marbled endpapers is a reference to the marbling done on the fore edge of accountants’ books. If a page was removed the dent formed in the image would draw attention to the fact.
Partial list of buildings owned by the Camondo family
in Constantinople.
Research, collection of artefacts from past tenants and text by Çiğdem Tugay and Selim Tugay.
Printed by
Mas Matbaa in 2007.