WHO DIED FROM WHICH DISEASE IN OTTOMAN ISTANBUL? / THE FIRST DATA OF THE DEATHS IN THE CITY] Statistique de la mortalite dans la ville de Constantinople et la banlieue & du department de Constantinople. 4 volumes

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Complete title: [WHO DIED FROM WHICH DISEASE IN OTTOMAN ISTANBUL? / THE FIRST DATA OF THE DEATHS IN THE CITY] Statistique de la mortalite dans la ville de Constantinople et la banlieue & du department de Constantinople. 4 volumes: Vol. 1: Pendant l’annee financiere 1316 / 1900-1901. Vol. 2: 1317 / 1901-1902. Vol. 3: 1318 / 1902-1903. Vol. 4: 1907.

ADMINISTRATION SANITAIRE DE L’EMPIRE OTTOMAN = OTTOMAN EMPIRE HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.

Daire-yi Umûr-i Sihhiyye = Administration Sanitaire de l'Empire Óttoman, Matbaa-i Osmaniye, Imprimerie Osmanié & Imprimerie F. Loeffler, Lithographie de S. M. I. le Sultan, Dersaadet [Istanbul], Constantinople, 1902-1907.

Original greenish and yellowish wrappers and hardcover (1317/1901-1902 vol.). Folio. (33,5 x 23,5 cm). In Ottoman script and French. 4 volumes: (144 p.; [4], 150 p.; 12 p., 6 folded statistical tables). The third volume lacks its back cover and has a detached front cover, with some staining present; the fourth volume shows wear and tear along the edges.

First and only editions of these four exceedingly rare volumes form an invaluable collection, presenting the earliest statistical tables that shed light on the diseases most commonly and least frequently encountered in early twentieth-century Ottoman Istanbul, the causes of death resulting from illness and other factors, average life expectancy, and the overall health conditions of the city’s population. The registers constitute an exceptional data source, as the information is systematically disaggregated by religious affiliation (Muslim and non-Muslim), age, and gender, and further classified by neighbourhood and season.

The statistical data contained in these registers documenting the causes of death in Istanbul and its surrounding districts, is based on information compiled from ten divisions of the Department of Health Affairs, as well as from major medical institutions, including the Sixth Department Hospital, Darü’l-Aceze, Haseki Nisa Hospital, Gümüşsuyu Hospital, Gureba-yı Müslimîn Hospital, Toptası Bîmârhâne, the French Hospital, the Jérémie Hospital (established by the French Lazarists), the Yedikule Armenian Hospital, the Russian Hospital, and the Italian, British, and German hospitals.

According to these statistics, tuberculosis, organic heart failure, and pneumonia were among the leading causes of death in Istanbul. Infant and child mortality also occupies a prominent place in the records, largely attributable to poverty, lack of education, and inadequate hygienic conditions.

Rare surviving copies from the statistical registers known to have been published between 1899 and 1907, specifically those for the years 1902 (two issues), 1903, and 1907. All these statistical bulletins are extremely rare; according to WorldCat, only three copies are recorded worldwide in institutional holdings.