Thus the Salname-i Devlet-i Aliyye-i Osmaniyye (Almanac of the Imperial Ottoman State) came into being. The first edition was published in 1847, written jointly by Hayrullah Efendi, a historian, Ahmet Vefik Efendi and Ahmet Cevdet Paşa. The almanac was published regularly, expanding steadily in size every year, until 1918. The first 35 editions were printed by lithography, and subsequent editions by letterpress, making a total of 68. The Ottoman almanacs are a remarkable source of information about politics, demographics and the public administrators of the time.
In the early period of the Turkish Republic three almanacs were published for the years 1925-26, 1926-27 and 1927-28. At intervals of around two decades a further two were published in 1945 and 1968, followed by one published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic in 1973.
To return to the Ottoman period, almanacs were also published by individual government departments.