[FIRST PASTEUR BIOGRAPHY IN OTTOMAN TURKISH / RARE BEIRUT IMPRINT] Luvi Pastör [Louis Pasteur]

[TÜRKÜSTÜN], ALÂIYELI ALI VEHBI (1877-1957).

Sabra Matbaasi, Beyrut [Beirut], 1918.

Original wrappers. 12mo. (16 x 11 cm). In Ottoman Turkish (with Arabic script). 32 p., including a photographic plate of Pasteur’s portrait.

First and only edition of this pioneering Turkish biography of Pasteur in book form, celebrating the renowned scientist’s contributions, particularly his development of vaccines for rabies and anthrax, which saved millions of lives. This Beirut imprint is exceedingly rare in both institutional collections and the market.

The first biography of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) in Ottoman Turkish, published in Beirut, apparently in the Sabra region. Pasteur, a French chemist, has been honoured as the 'father of bacteriology and microbiology,' renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, which was named after him.

The book is written by Ali Vehbi [Türküstün], a zoologist, paleontologist, and the first official Turkish mountaineer. While studying medicine in Paris in 1906, Ali Vehbi Türküstün became the first Turkish mountaineer to climb Mont Blanc, the highest peak of the Alps, alongside his four French friends.

In addition to detailing the life of the renowned scientist Pasteur, the book also includes an intriguing account of events such as the fact that, despite the difficult conditions of the state, Sultan Abdulhamid II sent a significant amount of money to Paris in 1886 with a delegation he appointed. The money was donated to the Pasteur Institute, which had recently opened there.

On July 6, 1885, Pasteur successfully applied the rabies vaccine to humans for the first time, and scientists from all over the world started to run to Paris. Before the Ottoman delegation visited the city, Louis Pasteur, who administered the rabies vaccine to humans for the first time on 6 July 1885, was invited to Turkey. The Ottoman delegation was sent to France after no positive response was received to this invitation (Unat, 1970).

Three prominent individuals from Istanbul were also sent to Paris to learn about the vaccine and meet with Pasteur: Zoeros Pasha, Professor of Internal Medicine at the Military Medical Faculty; Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Hüseyin Remzi Bey (1839–1894), Military Medicine Animal Teacher; and Veterinary Lieutenant Colonel Hüseyin Hüsnü Bey, one of the Istanbul Sanitary Inspectors. The delegation was honored by Sultan Abdülhamid II, who also provided 10,000 Francs to Pasteur, donated with a Mejidi Order of the 1st Rank to support the establishment of the Pasteur Institute.

The delegation arrived in Paris on June 8, 1886. The Turkish Ambassador, Esat Pasha, personally arranged a meeting with Pasteur, and the delegation was warmly received by him in his laboratory. The gifts presented by the delegation were highly appreciated by both Pasteur and the French government, as the money represented the largest foreign contribution to the institute. The delegation received special attention throughout their six-month stay in Paris, during which they conducted extensive studies on bacteriology and the rabies vaccine. They returned to Istanbul in December of the same year (Sehsuvaroglu, 1967). Upon their return, the Dâülkelp Treatment Centre for Rabies and Bacteriology was established in Istanbul in January 1887, under the administration of Alexander Zoeros Pasha (1842-1917).

Alexander Zoeros, also known as “Aleksan Çaliki Efendi,” who lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is one of the most notable figures at the Military Medical School. He served as a prominent administrator of the state health organization and was a pioneer of bacteriology and the rabies vaccine in Turkey. Zoeros Pasha was born in Beirut in 1842, while his father was serving in Syria.  

Özege 11762; TBTK 4086; As of March 2024, OCLC records only one copy, held at Boğaziçi University Library in Turkey, with no copies listed in American or other libraries worldwide (OCLC: 949522337).