[THE FIRST PRINTING HOUSE IN HIJAZ / THE FIRST MECCA EDITION / A COMMENTARY ON THE QASÎDA-I BURDA] Is'ad Bânet Su'âd serhi... [i.e., Es’ad’s commentary on Bânat Su’âd, [.] and a commentary on the Qasîdat al-Burda]

COMPLETE TITLE: [THE FIRST PRINTING HOUSE IN HIJAZ / THE FIRST MECCA EDITION / A COMMENTARY ON THE QASÎDA-I BURDA] اسعد بانت سعاد شرحی، ذیلنده مختصر توسل، قصیدهٔ برده شرحی / Is'ad Bânet Su'âd serhi; zeylinde muhtasar tevessül, Kasîde-i Bürde serhi [i.e., Es'ad's commentary on Bânat Su'âd, with an appendix containing a brief section on tawassul, and a commentary on the Qasîdat al-Burda].

NECIB (Director of the Egyptian Imaret in Mecca the Honoured) (?-1902?).

Hicâz Vilâyet Matbaasi, Mecca, AH 1314 [CE 1896/97].

Contemporary quarter purple cloth. 4to. (28 x 20 cm). In Ottoman Turkish and Arabic, with sporadic Persian verses. [1 blank page], [3], 222 p. A label on spine, slight wear to spine, single leaf of index is loosely inserted. Else, a very good and collectible copy, “Al-Matba’a al-Miriyya” seal on colophon, as a common practice of preventing counterfeits in the period.

An exceptionally rare first Mecca edition of a single-volume work containing two celebrated texts, representing the final nineteenth-century Turkish commentaries on the Qasîda-i Burda. Authored by Necib Bey of Antioch, an Ottoman official who served in the Hijaz, the volume was printed at the first press established in the region by Osman Nuri Pasha. The Qasîda-i Burda is a thirteenth-century ode of praise to Muhammad composed by the Egyptian Shadhili mystic al-Bûsîrî.

The first two pages of the work are devoted to complimentary letters written for the book by the then Governor of the Hijaz, Ahmed Ratib Pasha (1846-1913), and by the Arab scholars Abd al-Jalil Burade and Arif Khan Tashkendi. One of the letters is in Arabic, the other in Ottoman Turkish.

The final Turkish commentary on the Qasîda-i Burda produced in the nineteenth century belongs to Necib Bey of Antioch (d. after 1319/1902), who served as an official in the Hijaz region. Necib Bey held administrative posts at both institutions known as al-Tekiyyât al-Miṣriyya (The Egyptian Tekke), charitable imarets established by Mehmed Ali Pasha of Kavala, the Khedive of Egypt (d. 1265/1849), one in Mecca and the other in Medina. As he himself states in his commentary, Necib Bey received his education in Western Anatolia and travelled extensively across a wide geographical area, including regions beyond Ottoman territory such as Europe and Russia, marking him as a Turkish traveller and scholar of broad experience. In addition to these qualities, he was also active as an educator and is known to have tutored members of the elite, including Khedive Abbas Hilmi II of Egypt (d. 1944) and his brother Mehmed Ali Pasha.

Two works by Necib Bey are known, both of which are Turkish commentaries on the Qasida-i Burda poems of Kaʿb b. Zuhayr and al-Bûsîrî. The first bears the title Is'âd: Sharḥ-i Bânet Su'âd, and the second Mukhtaṣar Tawassul: Sharḥ-i Qasîda-i Burda. These two works were published together in a single bound volume in 1896/97 at the Hijaz Provincial Printing House. The title Mukhtaṣar Tawassul derives from the fact that this work is an abridgement of the commentary entitled Tawassul by Mekkî Mehmed Efendi (d. 1212/1797).

The commentary entitled Is'âd takes its name from the Arabic commentary Is'âd 'alâ Bânet Su'âd written by the Egyptian scholar Ibrâhîm b. Muḥammad al-Bâjûrî (d. 1277/1860). The commentator explains this choice of title with the statement: “This commentary, being in the nature of a translation of Bâjûrî's commentary, has therefore been named Is’âd, after its original title.”

However, the diversity of sources evident in the work, the inclusion of autobiographical details, Sufi narratives, poetic examples in three languages, and several critical remarks directed at the primary source clearly demonstrate that the text stands much closer to an original composition (ta'lîf) than to a mere translation (tarjama). (Gürler).

ON THE FIRST PRINTING HOUSE IN THE HIJAZ: The distinctive cultural character of Meccan society as a centre for learning, intellectual exchange, and scholarly debate was a decisive factor in the introduction of printing to Mecca. This development was welcomed by both scholars and the local population and materialized in 1882 under the auspices of the Ottoman governor of the Hijaz, Osman Nuri Pasha. Although the Ottoman government had established the first printing press in the Arabian Peninsula earlier, in Sana’a in 1877 (1295 AH), Mecca became acquainted with printing shortly thereafter, in 1300 AH (1882-83), with the founding of an official government press.

The Meccan press, established by Osman Nuri Pasha with the support of Shaykh Ahmad Zayni Dahlan, who emphasized the importance of disseminating knowledge in the land of revelation, was officially known as the Hijaz Vilâyet Matbaası (Hijaz Provincial Government Printing Press) and popularly referred to as al-Matba’a al-Mīriyya. Initially equipped with a small, foot-operated press, it was later upgraded in 1302 AH with a medium-sized machine supplied by the Ottoman state, followed by the addition of lithographic printing equipment. Rushdi Malhas, editor-in-chief of Umm al-Qura in 1347 AH (1928), noted that a large press and additional tools were installed at that time, many of which remained in use for years.

The press was first managed by ʿAbd al-Ghani Effendi, assisted by ʿAli Effendi, and later directed by Ibrahim Adham from 1306 AH onward. Hashim al-Naqshbandi was also among those who later assumed its management. Over the course of its approximately thirty-eight years of operation (1882–1920), and despite its limited technical capabilities, the press produced hundreds of significant religious works. It also printed a range of official and periodical publications, including the Hijaz Vilayeti Salnamesi (first issued in 1301 AH), the weekly newspaper al-Hijaz, and Shams-i Haqiqat in both Arabic and Turkish.

Beyond official publications and newspapers, the press played a vital role in disseminating literary, religious, and heritage works in multiple languages, including Arabic, Turkish, Javanese, Malay, and Urdu. It also printed works by scholars of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, many of whom had not previously seen their writings in print.

Sources: Not in Serkis., Ömer Said Gürler, Turkish Works Written on Qasîdah al-Burdah (Bânet Su’âd) in the Ottoman Period; Özege 14291., As of March 2026, only a single copy is recorded worldwide, held by the National Library of Israel, apparently incomplete with at least one page missing (OCLC 1484841432).