[SAMMELBAND INCLUDING THE FIRST OTTOMAN LESBIAN PLAY / EARLY QUEER] چیقماز سوقاق / Çikmaz sokak: Millî tiyatro, 3 perde. [i.e. Dead end: National theater in 3 acts]. [Bound with] Ben… baska. Kirik mahfaza [bound with] Haralambos Cankiyadis

SÜLEYMAN, SÂHABEDDIN (Turkish / Ottoman writer, member of Fecr-i Âtî movement) (1885-1921).

Muhtar Halid Kitabhanesi / Matbaa-i Hayriye ve Sürekâsi (Muhtar Halid Külliyati Kism-i Millî 8), Istanbul, AH 1329 = [CE 1913].

Contemporary full burgundy cloth, with gilt lettering on the spine. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 107 p. Wear to the rear board and spine, occasional foxing on pages. Otherwise, a very good copy.

The first edition of this groundbreaking play, published in 1913 after its serialization in 1909, is the first work in Ottoman/Turkish literature to include lesbian content in book form. This Sammelband also features two additional Ottoman plays from the same period, printed by the same publishing house.

This theatrical text, centred around a lesbian relationship, has never been performed or allowed to be performed since its publication. It stands as the first play written on lesbianism in the Ottoman Empire. The story takes place in a mansion in Sisli (Constantinople) in 1907, where two elderly and wealthy brothers, both senior palace officials, live together. One of the brothers marries a young, beautiful woman, but she falls in love with another woman. To be able to meet her lover freely, she manipulates the other man in the mansion into marrying her lover, thus allowing the two women to continue their secret relationship. However, one of the women eventually falls in love with another woman, leading to a jealousy crisis and a series of intrigues. The drama unfolds as the old husband finally discovers that his wife is a "sevici" (the term for 'lesbian' in period slang). 

Despite being written from a highly patriarchal and heterosexist perspective, Çikmaz Sokak can be considered a brave step in addressing an issue that threatened the values of the "holy family," especially given the period in which it was written. Following the publication of this book, the author was suspended from his position as a French language teacher at Vefa High School and remained unemployed for a long time.

Muhtar Halid was the Late period Ottoman / Turkish typographer, the elder brother of the famous Turkish typographer and translator Ahmed Ihsan Tokgöz, (1868-1942), and the owner of 'Muhtar Halid Kitabhanesi'. He collaborated with his brother in printing activities, especially when he was publishing 'Servet-i Fünûn' periodicals. (Source: Tanzimat'tan Cumhuriyet'e Tarihi Kentsel Çevrede Mekânlar Üzerinden Bir Semt Okumasi: Cagaloglu Semti Örnegi, by Melek Yalvaç (Ph.D. Thesis)).

Özege 3312.; As of March 2025, more than fifteen institutional copies in OCLC 263668945, 83179143, 22044888.