[ANTEBELLUM FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF GALLIPOLI BEFORE THE LANDING OF ANZACS] Gelibolu hâtirâti. [i.e. Memoirs on Gallipoli]

[KAYMAKAM] MEHMED EMIN BEY, Mekteb-i Harbiye Matbaasi, Istanbul, [AH 1327] = 1913.

Original wrappers. Foolscap 8vo. (17 x 11 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Tu8rkish with Arabic letters). 41 p. Several pencil notes on some pages, transparent tape on the front cover; overall a good copy.

Exceedingly uncommon first and only edition of this first-hand account of antebellum Gallipoli and its surroundings, written by Kaymakam Mehmed Emin Bey who was the Heavy Artillery Fourth Regiment commander of the "Bahr-i Sefid Vilâyet" of Ottomans. This short account was completed by Emin Bey in 1910-1911, including prominent details on topography and railways of the area in eight chapters, through the eyes of a soldier, and published only four years ago from the landing of the Anzacs under the leadership of the British army, during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 in World War I. The fourth chapter describes the Ottoman navy's visit to Gallipoli. Unpublished and untranslated.

This rare book was presented to Hüseyin Emir [Erkilet] Pasha (1883-1958), who was an officer of the Ottoman Army and a general of the Turkish Army.

Özege 6132.; only two copies can be traced in OCLC, but both are attributed to the wrong author as Turkish poet Mehmet Emin Yurdakul: 39393469, 866879328.; MK: 001140535 (Same mistake about the author).