[ALL COMEDIES BY THE MOST FAMOUS ATHEIST OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD / NO COPIES IN WORLDCAT] تمثیلات قاپوتان میرزا فتحعلی آخونزاده / Temsîlât: Kapudân Mirzâ Fethali Ahundov [= Комедіи и Повѣсть: Капутана Мурзы-фетъ-Али-Ахундова] [i.e., The comedies]

AHUNDZÂDE, MIRZÂ FETHALI [MIRZA FATALI AKHUNDOV] (1812-1878).

Sirgâr Eşref Emced Cânîşin Kafkazk Basmahanesinde Matbua’ Olubdur, Tiflis [Tbilisi], AH 1277 [1859 CE].

Original green wrappers. Demy 8vo. (21 x 13 cm). Text in Azerbaijani with Arabic script, bilingual title in Russian and Azerbaijani on the cover. v, 286, [4] p., [4 blank pages]. Modern white label on the lower spine, ongoing water stain, gradually fading within the first twenty pages. Overall, a very good copy.

Exceptionally rare first edition in book form of Akhundov’s compilation of five comedies, published following their serialization in the newspaper Kafkaz. The plays quickly gained wide acclaim, sparking numerous reviews and articles in Russian and German periodicals. Several were successfully staged at the Tbilisi Theatre, an institution established by Prince Vorontsov, Akhundov’s mentor and patron. Through their Persian translations (between AH 1288 and 1291), the comedies also played a significant role in the emergence of modern Iranian theatre. The author dedicated the collection to Russian General and Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr Ivanovich Baryatinsky (1815-1879).

Ahundzade’s first play, Hekâyet-i Molla Ibrâhim Halîl Kimyâger, satirizes not only alchemy but also the ignorance of those exploited by alchemists. It also targets a dervish and a cleric, equating religious superstition with pseudoscience. The voice of reason in the play is Hacı Nûri, a poet partly inspired by Mirza Şefî Vâzıh. His second play, Hekâyet-i Müsyö Jurdân, similarly critiques superstition, focusing on a woman who turns to magic. Figures of enlightenment, like a French botanist and an aspiring young noble, Şahbaz Bey, stand in contrast to backward beliefs, though their efforts are thwarted.

His third play, Sergüzeşt-i Vezîr-i Hân-ı Lenkeran (1851), mocks corrupt officials during the pre-Russian Azerbaijani khanate period. The vizier Mirza Habîb is a despot who is humiliated in his private life. That same year, he wrote Hekâyet-i Hırs-ı Guldurbasan, which incorporates social criticism into a romantic plot about two lovers overcoming intrigue with the help of a benevolent Russian official.

In 1852, he wrote Sergüzeşt-i Merd-i Hesîs, considered by some critics his best work. Drawing on personal experiences near the Russian - Iranian border, it tells the story of Hacı Kara, a miserly merchant who engages in smuggling with a ruined noble, Haydar Bey. The play contrasts them with moral figures like Kara’s wife and Haydar’s servant.

His productivity declined due to increasing official duties during the Crimean War. His sixth and final play, Mürafi‘e Vekillerinin Hekâyeti (1855), is set in Tabriz and depicts Ağa Hasan’s schemes to seize the inheritance of a wealthy orphan after she refuses to marry him, exposing corrupt judges and lawyers who support his plot

Azerbaijani playwright and advocate of alphabet reform, Akhundov, was one of the first and most renowned atheists to emerge under the influence of Western philosophy in the Islamic world. He considered himself the heir to a covert tradition of materialism within Islamic thought. Among his predecessors, he included not only Rumi, but also the Ismaili Imam Hasan Ala Zikrihisselam, who derived his materialist views from Hindu sources, as well as philosophers nourished by the entirety of Ancient Greek thought. While his predecessors lacked the courage to express their views openly, Akhundov produced a work that, according to F. Gasimzade, “has yet to be matched in the clarity with which it presents arguments against Islam” (p. 331). So powerful were these ideas, he believed, that “if they were to spread, they would be more effective in shaking the foundations of Islam than an army of 100,000 men.”

His opposition to Islam, combined with his strong sense of Iranian identity, led him to harbor resentment toward Arabs and foster a deep nostalgia for pre-Islamic Iran. This perspective also prompted him to exempt Zoroastrianism from the criticisms he directed at institutionalized religion.

Source: F. Gasimzâde, XIX. Esr Azerbaycan Edebiyatı Tarihi, Baku 1966., TDV. Mirza Fethali Ahundzâde.

Not in Özege., TBTK 10769., As of May 2025, we couldn’t trace any copies in OCLC.