[THE FIRST PRINTED TURKISH BOOK ON ANTIDOTES / THE 1849 HEJAZ & YEMEN EXPEDITION] پانزهیرنامه / Panzehirnâme. [i.e., The book of antidote potions]

MUSTAFA HAMI PASHA (1846-1878).

Matbaa-i Âmire, Istanbul, AH 1271 = [1855 CE].

Original stitched wrappers as issued. Foolscap 8vo. (18 × 12 cm). In Ottoman Turkish (Arabic script). [4], 83, [1] pp. The text is traditionally framed and opens with a highly decorative calligraphic head title set within an ornate heart-shaped cartouche, embellished with traditional floral motifs and a pair of sceptres entwined with serpents. The orthography includes ḥarakāt (Arabic diacritics). Each chapter heading is further adorned with intricate floral ornaments and decorative borders. As was common practice at the time, the blank recto of the title page bears the seal of the Imperial Printing House, applied as a measure to prevent the production of counterfeit copies. Occasional stains on covers, light foxing on a few pages, and the spine is almost gone. Overall, a good copy.

Lithographed edition. First and only edition of the earliest printed Turkish book on antidotes and poisons, written by Mirliva Mustafa Hâmi Pasha, a Turkish military physician during the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid I. Hâmi Pasha served as a physician, botanist, and medical officer in the Ottoman army during the first half of the nineteenth century, primarily in the Hejaz and Yemen. He took part in an Ottoman military expedition to Yemen aimed at reasserting imperial control over the region; the expeditionary corps departed from Jeddah on 23 March 1849. As a trained medical professional practicing in Yemen, he also addressed various local diseases and public health concerns.

The discussion of poisonous animals and plants in this work is largely based on Hâmi Pasha’s firsthand experiences in Yemen and the Hejaz. His aim in composing this treatise, which opens with a prayer and expressions of praise for Sultan Abdülmecid I, was to challenge the widespread popular belief in the so-called "antidote stone" and to emphasize that poisons cannot all be neutralized by a single remedy. Instead, he sought to identify and explain the appropriate antidotes for different types of poisoning.

Following the introductory chapter (Muqaddima), the first chapter examines poisonings caused by minerals and their respective antidotes. Subsequent chapters address poisons derived from plants and animals, as well as toxic substances present in flowing water and air. The work also discusses first-line interventions using plants with antidotally properties for various conditions, including drowning, convulsions, hanging, inhalation of floral scents, and exposure to extreme cold.

Drawing on his experiences during the 1849 Yemen Expedition, where he encountered much of the flora and fauna described in the book, Hâmi Pasha compiled this knowledge into a systematic medical treatise. Encouraged by Sultan Abdülmecid I, who personally read the manuscript, and with the assistance of the typographer Mehmed Recâi, the work was lithographed in 1855 at the Imperial (Âmire) Printing House.

Özege 16131.; As of January 2026, only one copy is in OCLC in the Aga Khan Library in London: 1124680097.