[FIRST TURKISH STUDY ON HALLEY'S COMET] Kuyruklu yildizlar ve Halley Kevkeb-i Gisudâri: Neler olacak? Ale'lumûm kuyruklu yildizlar ile Halley necm-i gisudâri hakkinda malûmât ve tedkikâti samil risâledir [i.e. Comets and Halley's Comet]

VELID, EBÜZZIYAZÂDE ABDURRAHMAN (1882-1945).

Matbaa-yi Ebüzziya, Istanbul, AH 1327 = [1912].

Original attractive illustrated wrappers. Foolscap 8vo. (18 x 12 cm). In Ottoman script. (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 96 p., richly illustrated.

Scarce first edition of the first original and richly illustrated Turkish study on Halley's Comet, which is visible from Earth every 75-79 years, written by Abdurrahman Velid (1884-1945), the youngest son of an Ottoman publisher and author Ebüzziya Mehmed Tevfik (1849-1913). This book was published by the printing house of the Velid family,  titled "Matbaa-i Ebüzziya".

According to the introduction titled "Ashab-i Mütalaaya", this work was published five or six days before Halley's approach to the world, and it caused public uneasiness due to its possible contact with the world. Writing that he decided to write a work about the nature of comets and Halley's Comet, the author says that he brought together the information compiled from the books of important astronomers such as Camille Flammarion.

The first chapter (Kism-i Evvel) includes a detailed scientific and historical account of comets. Then, the dates of observations of Halley, Encke, Biela, Faye, Brorsen, Arrest, Pons, Brooks, Tuttle, Olbers, Wolf, Finlay, Holmes, Tempel, and some other comets and information about how many years they completed their orbits, their discoveries, and various mathematical calculations are included with tables. It also touches on the elements that make up comets. In the second illustration, the astronomer Laplace's depiction of the giant waves that would form in the ocean when a comet hits the earth is quoted. Figure 4 quotes an illustration of the comet that appeared in 1853 and was illustrated by Camille Flammarion. Figure 9 depicts the comet discovered by Donati in 1858. Describing in detail that comets were interpreted as superstitions in empires and countries such as Rome and Portugal, the author scientifically defines the possibility of comets hitting the earth at the end of the chapter and what will happen in this situation.

The second part of the book is completely devoted to Halley's comet, the history of Halley's star, the rumors that Halley's comet caused the great flood when it appeared, Halley's orbit and movement, what elements are in Halley's star, the probability of its tail touching the earth, an anthology of the articles of famous astronomers on this subject are mentioned.

Özege 11378.; TBTK 413.; We can't trace any copies in OCLC.