[THE FIRST PUBLICATION ON GYNAECOLOGY / THE MULTIPLE FIRSTS / INNOVATIONS IN TURKISH MEDICINE] تحفة الطب / Tuhfetü’t-tib. Zilkadde 1, 15 & Zilhicce 1, [AH] 1284, Year 1. Nos: 5, 6, 7. [i.e., Innovations in medicine]

MEHMED ALI BEY (19^th century).

Maltepe Hastanesi Matbaası, Istanbul, AH 1284 [CE 1867].

Original staple-stitched illustrated yellow and greenish wrappers. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 16 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 65-112 pp. Creasing to the thin covers, occasional spotting. Overall, a very good copy.

Lithographed. Three consecutive issues (of 15) of this exceedingly rare early journal devoted to gynaecology and the second Turkish medical periodical, published in the eighteen years following the appearance of the first Turkish medical journal, Vakayi’-i Tıbbiyye, in 1849 and continuing until 1867.

The journal began publication in the same year as the founding of the Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Şahâne, an institution regarded as a monument of modernization in the Ottoman Empire and stands among the earliest examples of the movement to render medicine and science into Turkish, containing multiple firsts in obstetrics and gynaecology as well as in many other fields of medicine.

The journal's stated aim was "to promote the advancement of science in the lands under the shadow of the magnificent Ottoman Sultan by publishing, every fifteen days from Maltepe Hospital, the regulations, medicines, and methods of application required for various diseases, translated into Turkish (i.e., from foreign languages)." (Quoted from the back covers of the issues.).

The entire work addresses diseases of women’s reproductive health and childbirth (gynaecology), as well as neonatal and early childhood diseases, and the description and history of smallpox, etc. 

Established in 1827 as a military hospital by order of Sultan Mahmud II, it was a major institution that remained in service until 1922. Kolağası Mehmed Ali Efendi (Mühling), known for publishing the journal, was among the physicians who worked at the hospital. He was promoted to the rank of Major upon his appointment as Professor of Botany in 1871.

Özege 21300; As of January 2026, no copies in the WorldCat.

Sources: Mühling, "Mekteb-i Tıbbıye-i Şahane'de Eğitim Dili olarak Türkçe", Gazette Médicale d'orient, XIV Année. No. 9, Decembre 1870. Aykut Kazancıgil, Tıp Fakültesi Tarihçesi, EK-II, İstanbul. 1991, pp. 151-159.; "Tuhfetü’l-Tıb", Altıntaş - Dinç - Başağaoğlu.