[EARLY OTTOMAN BOOK OF DANCES / MARDIN IMPRINT] Dans hocasi [i.e., Dance teacher]

BÜLEND, LÜTFI, Vilâyet Matbaasi, Mardin, 1927.

Original pictorial wrappers. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 13,5 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 16 p., b/w ills. Fold trace on the cover, stains on the front cover, and slight stains on the margins. Overall, a very good copy. Signed and inscribed by the author as “Muhterem binbasi Salih Beyefendi’ye”.

Extremely rare unrecorded illustrated book of dances in Ottoman Turkish, written by probably a Turkish bureaucrat, and published by the provincial printing house in Mardin.

The book consists of eight chapters: Introduction, the Method and Practice in Dance, Vonstep, Foxtrot, Waltz, Shimmy, Charleston, and Tango. All dances are described figure by figure with a brief introduction and illustrations. We could not find the source of the illustrations used in the book.

On the back cover, the book ends with two interesting advertisements for the “Resimli Ay” periodical and the Mardin Provincial Printing House.

After the proclamation of the Republic, like it was in many parts of Anatolia, in Mardin as well local press works began. Mardin brought a printing press for the first time in Turkish press history, and in 1927 the Mardin Provincial Printing House was established. This early book of dance was published in this printing house immediately after it was founded in Mardin in 1927.

Not in Özege., As of December 2023, not in the OCLC and KVK.