In October, 1929 Khalid Edhem Bey discovered by chance in the library of Serallo, in the city of Istanbul, a map in parchment made in the month of Muharram of the year 919 AH (March 1513) The rare and valuable geographical letter contained, among other legends, the following note: "This chapter explains how this map has been made. Such a map nobody owns at present. By the hands of this poor man it has been composed and now elaborated." The discovery was important. As already stated it had to do with a parchment in Turkish writing painted in several colors. It represents the western zone of the world. It comprises the Atlantic Ocean with America and the western rim of the world. The other parts of the world, which undoubtedly the map also included, have been lost.

The author of the map, Piri Muhyid Din Re'is is not unknown. He was a famous navigator and mapmaker who died about 1554-1555. He wrote a handbook on navigation in the Aegean and the Mediteranean Seas, which was known as Piri Re'is Bahriye. Perhaps the map found by Khalil Edhem Bey was a part of this handbook which had been presented to Sultan Selim I in 1517 which would explain how the mysterious parchment was found in Serallo.