[AN EARLY BRIDGE BETWEEN ARABIC AND WESTERN MEDICINE] Qâmûs tibbî Fransâwî - Arabî = Dictionnaire de médecine Français-Arabe. Precede d'une préface par M. Ch. Robin, de l'institut.

Complete title: [AN EARLY BRIDGE BETWEEN ARABIC AND WESTERN MEDICINE] قاموس طبى فرنساوى عربى / Qâmûs tibbî Fransâwî - Arabî = Dictionnaire de médecine Français-Arabe. Precede d'une préface par M. Ch. Robin, de l'institut.

RUSDÎ AL-BAKLÎ AL-HÂKÎM, MAHMOUD (?-1890).

Imprimerie Orientale Victor Goupy, Paris, AH 1286 = CE 1870.

Contemporary quarter burgundy morocco, marbled boards in western style, decorated gilt on spine with title. Foolscap 8vo. (17,5 x 11 cm). Bilingual in Arabic and French. Xviii, [2], 358 p. Ownership inscriptions in Arabic on the first page of preface. Faded patterns on the marbled boards, chipped boards’ margins, water stains heavily, and slight foxing on the pages, with slightly soiled edges. Overall, a good copy.

A rare first edition (QNL) of this medical dictionary, regarded as one of the earliest two known works translating French medical literature into Arabic, prepared as a reference for Arabic-speaking physicians, medical students, and scholars. The book was printed at the Parisian printing house of Victor Goupy, an orientalist press specializing in publications in non-Latin Eastern scripts.

The preface was written by the French biologist and anatomist Charles-Philippe Robin (1821-1885), one of the founders of the Société de Biologie and a prominent advocate of positivist philosophy in scientific thought. Following the preface, the author’s own introduction appears. Preceding the extensive dictionary section comprising thousands of entries translated from French into Arabic is a letter addressed to the author by the renowned French orientalist Hartwig Derenbourg (1844-1908), who at the time was a specialist in Arabic manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Impériale in Paris.

By translating French medical terminology into Arabic and providing a scholarly reference for Arabic-speaking physicians and students, this work serves as an early modern bridge between Eastern and Western medical cultures. It represents a significant example of nineteenth-century efforts to connect Islamic and Western medicine within medical education and professional literature.

Mahmoud Rusdî al-Bakli (d. 1890 CE [1307 AH]) was an Egyptian physician born in Zawiyat al-Bakli in the province of Menoufia. He studied medicine in Cairo and was later sent on a scholarly mission to Munich, Germany, and subsequently to Paris, before returning to Egypt. Upon his return, he was appointed as a physician and instructor of anatomy at the medical school and later rose to the position of chief physician of Menoufia. He died there after suffering from a neurological illness.

Among his works is the French-Arabic Medical Dictionary, published in Paris by the Oriental Press in 1870 CE (corresponding to 1286 AH). The title page states: “Written by Mahmoud Rashdi al-Bakli al-Hakim: physician trained at the Medical School of Paris; physician of the Qasr al-Ayni Medical School in Cairo; student of the Egyptian Mission in France; and external student at the hospitals of Paris.

ON THE PUBLISHER:

Imprimerie Victor Goupy was a printing house established in Paris in the early 19th century. It operated not only in French but also as a multilingual press working with both Eastern and European languages, producing a wide range of printed materials such as books, pamphlets, and official documents. In this respect, it was among the few presses in Europe capable of printing in non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Chinese, Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, etc., making it particularly significant for Oriental studies, orientalist publications, and works in Asian and Middle Eastern languages published in Europe.

Provenance: Ownership inscription of “Salim Fakhmi al-Bakli al-Hakim”; personal stamp of “al-Sayyid Khâlid,” bearing the inscription 1this book is gifted by Elhac Muhammed Efendi; most recently from the collection of C. H. B.