The Risāle-i Mi‘māriyye by Ca'fer Efendi is the most extensive and detailed Ottoman literary source devoted to a particular architect. In addition to being an account of the life and works of the imperial architect Mehmed Ağa, builder of the Sultan Ahmed Complex in Istanbul, it serves to suggest something of the general character and career evolution of the entire class of Ottoman imperial architects of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and includes as well a trilingual glossary of terms related to architecture. With the exception of the more abridged teẕkeres of Mustafa Sa'i Çelebi dealing with Sinan, the Risāle-i Mi‘māriyye is the only systematic Ottoman account of the life an imperial architect known to exist.