Vol. 16 (2006) The Last Dragoman. The Swedish Orientalist Johannes Kolmodin as Scholar, Activist, and Diplomat ed. Elisabeth Özdalga ISBN 91-86884-14-X , 22.50 £ Contents: Johannes Kolmodin (1884-1933) – philologist (Semitic languages) and historian from Uppsala in Sweden – came to Constantinople in 1917 and stayed there until 1931. His intention was to carry out research in the Ottoman archives about king Charles XII, who had spent four years in Bender (today's Rumania ) after the defeat of the Swedish army at Poltava in 1709. With his high proficiency in Turkish, Kolmodin was enrolled as translator, or dragoman, at the Swedish Embassy, where he also was entrusted - and enjoined - other consular work, something that took much of his time, thwarting his scholarly endeavor as historian. Instead of devoting much time to history, Johannes Kolmodin became a keen observer of ongoing social and political events. The fact that he lived in Istanbul during a period of great social and political transformations has turned him into a rare eye witness of the events leading to the break-down of the Ottoman sultanate and the setting up of the modern Turkish republic. Before coming to Constantinople, Kolmodin, who came from a pious family of missionaries/priests/ theologians, had spent two years in Ethiopia and Eritrea (1908-1910) for philological research. He also had several years as academician and conservative activist in Uppsala behind him. The fact that Kolmodin died shortly after he had left Istanbul (1931) for a position as the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassi's special advisor, meant that many of his contributions as an Orientalist have passed unnoticed. Making use of the Uppsala archives the purpose of the present book is to present a portrait of this unusual philologist/historian/activist/diplomat. The contributions were originally presen- ted during a conference held at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul 24 — 25 May 2002 entitled “Swedish Orientalism in a Historical Perspective: Johannes Kolmodin as scholar and diplomat in Turkey of the 1920s.”