In 1678, Thomas Smith (1638-1710), an Oxonian scholar who became a member of the Royal Society later in life, published Remarks upon the Manners, Religion and Government of the Turks; together with a Survey of the Seven Churches of Asia, as they now lye in their ruines: and a brief Description of Constantinople (London, Printed for Moses Pitt). In the 1680s and 1690s, moreover, this author followed up his book with an account of his travels to Istanbul and Bursa in the Philosophical Transactions (No. 152 [1683], 155 [1684], and 230 [1695]) of the Royal Society. In his travelogues, Smith presented himself as an antiquarian and classical scholar who attempted to locate the remnants of the principal buildings of ancient Greece and Rome and, where possible transcribe their inscriptions. Besides, however, Smith, who for about three years (1668-1670) had served as chaplain to Sir Daniel Harvey, English ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1668 to 1672, proved himself as a keen observer of the Ottoman government, society, and culture. His travels and a relatively long stay in the Ottoman capital helped him to collect the first-hand material he later used in his publications. Given the limits of seventeenth-century sources, the accounts of Thomas Smith offer new data and insights on the political, social, and cultural fabric of the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, his work allows researchers access to an “outsider” perspective, which they can compare and contrast with other available sources. For from Smith’s pen, we possess not just various studies on historical events including the Ottoman siege of Candia, the conflict between the Kadızadelis and Sivasis, and the earthquakes in Istanbul and Anatolia in 1668 and 1669, but also notes on Ottoman understandings of, and approaches to, the sciences and geographical discoveries of the period. At times adhering to stereotypical assumptions, the little-known travel accounts of Smith are of interest if we want to find out what an English scholar and religious figure observed in the Ottoman Empire, how he interpreted what he saw, and what he found worth publishing in a scientific journal of the early modern period.