[MODERNISM IN SCIENCE / GEOMETRY BOOK BY ATATÜRK] Geometri: Geometri ögretenlerle, bu konuda kitap yazacaklara kilavuz olarak Kültür Bakanliginca nesredilmistir

[ATATÜRK, MUSTAFA KEMAL (1881-1938)], Devlet Basimevi, Istanbul, 1937.

Original wrappers. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Turkish. 48 p., 73 numerous ills. A small chipping on the lower right corner of the front cover; otherwise, a fine copy. A paper with “Türkiye Cumhuriyeti” [i.e., Turkish Republic] and moon & crescent watermarks.

First edition of this extremely rare, celebrated first modern geometry book in Turkish literature, written by the founder of the New Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, published without the author’s name a year before his death, instead of older geometry books printed before the Republican Revolution, including old terminology in Arabic and Persian which caused difficulties for students in the new education system.

Atatürk visited Sivas city during his Elaziz (Elazig) trip. While he was observing a student at Sivas High School, he saw that the terms of Hendese (Geometry) continued as before in old methods in Arabic and Persian terminology. Immediately, he provided to be sent a telegram to the Minister of National Education Saffet Arikan to remove these books from the curriculum of schools. It turns out that, according to a previous decision, although the books were published in the old style, new terms had to be added to the book in the form of a list. Since the State Printing Office could not produce this supplement, it could not be sent to schools. (Asim Us).

In the autumn of 1936, Atatürk sent Agop Dilaçar (1895-1979) and Süreyya Anderiman to Haset Kitabevi (Librairie Hachette) in ​​Beyoglu, had one of the comprehensive French Geometry books. He worked on this text during the winter months of 1936-1937, right after the Third Turkish Language Congress (August 24-31, 1936). This work of Atatürk, which he wrote between January 10 and March 9, 1937, was published by the Ministry of National Education at the State Printing House in 1937. The subheading of the book has been chosen as “For those who teach geometry and those who will write books on this subject, it has been published by the Ministry of Culture as a guide”. The Minister of Culture (National Education) Saffet Arikan gave a written order on 15 October 1937 regarding Hendese (Geometry) and Calculation (Mathematics) books to be taught in the fourth and fifth grades of primary schools in the 1937-1938 academic year.

The terms of geometry are still based on Ataturk's book in Turkey's education system.

As of November 2023, OCLC has only two copies in “Universitätsbibliothek der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin” and “Cambridge University Library”.