[FIRST GEOGRAPHY BOOK OF ASIA IN TURKISH / LITHOGRAPHY / FINE BINDINGS] [Üç cografya kitabi - Fasl-i Sânî] Asya Kit’asinin müstemil oldugu memâlîk... [i.e., ... of Asian Continent including its countries, territories, rivers, nations, peoples

ANONYMOUS.

Tab’hâne-i Âmîre Litografya Destgâhi, Kostantiniyye (Istanbul), AH 1258 = [1842].

COMPLETE TITLE: [Üç cografya kitabi - Fasl-i Sânî / Asya Kit’asi cografyasi] اسیا قطءسنگ مشتمل اولدوغی ممالك و بلدان و حال و انحار و ملل و اقوام و سائر احوال حاضر و كیفیات معالومهسی بیانندهدر / Asya Kit’asinin müstemil oldugu memâlîk ve beledân ve hâl-i enhâr ve milel-i akvâm vesâir ahvâl-i hâzir ve keyfiyyât-i mâlûmesi beyânindadir. [i.e., It’s declared of the current situation and brief information of Asian Continent including its countries, territories, rivers, nations, peoples, etc.].

Original 1/5 dark green morocco with cloth boards covered silk, inlaid flowers and decorative borders on front and rear covers. A fine binding. Small 4to. (26 x 18 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 84 p., a folded engraved map (47 x 41 cm). Except for miniscule stains on upper of the front board, a fine copy.

An exceptionally rare first edition of the earliest printed geography book in Turkish, focusing on Asia. This is also an early lithographed book including an uncommon and attractive example of a map of Asia produced with the possibilities of Ottoman cartography.

The book is divided into twenty-two chapters: The Ottoman lands in Asia, the land of Arabia, Ajamistan (Persia - Iran), the Kabul Kingdom (Afghanistan), The Herat Kingdom, Baluchistan, Turkestan, British India (this chapter includes detailed tables consisting of sub-chapters such as Bombay, Calcutta, etc), The Sindh Lands, The Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Nepal, The Principality of Sindh, The Maldives, Transoxiana, Burma, Siam, Hind-i Alâ (The British Commonwealth beyond the Ganges River), Territory of Cocos, Annam Region (Vietnam), China, Japan, and the last chapter includes others. The book does not have an introduction or preface and appears to have been prepared for geography classes at Mühendishane-i Berr-i Hümâyûn, the Imperial School of Military Engineering, founded in 1795 during the reign of Selim III and operating until 1928. It was the first engineering school of the Ottoman Empire. 

The map included at the end of the book is a rare example of Ottoman cartography revealing the political, geographical, and social information about the Asia continent in its period. 

Provenance: From the Gunnar Valfrid Jarring's (12 October 1907 - 29 May 2002) Collection. He was a Swedish Turcologist and diplomat.

Not in Özege, TBTK 4969, Not in Erdem, eleven copies in OCLC (1114485062 - Eight copies in the US libraries: Harvard Library, HathiTrust Digital Library, Concordia Theological Seminary Wayne and Barbara Kroemer Library, Virginia Tech Newman Library, Field Museum Library, Dallas Theological Seminary Turpin Library & Hawaii Pacific University Library Concordia College Library).