["HADHADA" / MASTURBATION / ANDROLOGY / ONANISM] استمناء باليد - استشها باليد / Istimnâ bi’l-yed - istishâ bi’l-yed. Tibbî ve Mahrem Musâhabeler Külliyâti No. 1. [i.e., Masturbation: Self-induced ejaculation by the hand]

[KASIM], MEHMED ALI.

Yeni Sark Kitabhânesi / Orhaniye Matbaasi, Istanbul, AR 1340 [CE 1924].

Original wrappers. Demy 8vo. (21 x 14 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic script). 95 p. Slight wear to spine, occasional spotting on pages. Overall, a very good copy.

The first edition of this rare opening work in a late Ottoman series on andrology sought to inform the public that masturbation was considered a disease, presenting the subject through an onanist framework that reflects the moral and scientific outlook of its time. Although no biographical information about the author has been identified (TJoU), we believe him to be the urologist Mehmed Aly, based on his printed 1921 thesis, La rétrodeviation de l'utérus gravide, submitted for the medical degree at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lausanne.

The book opens with a section titled "The History of Masturbation", notable for its striking statements, where it claims that the practice was regarded as normal in almost all parts of the world except the lands of Israel and Persia. In the following chapters, the author attempts to demonstrate that masturbation is a disease that can progress to fatal consequences and proceeds to describe in detail its various forms and methods, its harms, as well as the preventive measures and treatments. Although some space is devoted to women (as well as gays and lesbians) in this first volume of the series, unlike the second, it ultimately targets a male audience and especially their families.

Özege 9303., As of January 2026, OCLC shows only two copies worldwide, only held by the Princeton Library in the US (Leiden University Libraries, Princeton University Library): (25347337 & 67027512).