[FIRST MODERN BOOK ON INTERNAL DISEASES IN AFGHAN MEDICAL LITERATURE / AUTOGRAPHED COPY] امراض داخله / Emrâz-i dâhiliye [i.e., Internal diseases]

BARKIN, [IBRAHIM] REBII HIKMET (1899-1974).

Matbaa-e Umûmî, Kabul, Sh. 1317 = [1938].

Original pinkish wrappers. 4to. (28 x 20 cm). Text completely in Dari. 28, 841, [1 blank page], [4], [4 blank pages], 93 numbered colour and b/w plates; first pages are numbered in Latin, others are in the Arabic numeral system. A presentation copy: Inscribed by author-medic to his daughter in modern Turkish as “Sevgili canim kizima yadigâr, Haziran 1966” [i.e., A souvenir for my lovely daughter, June 1966] on title page in ink.

Extremely rare and very uncommon (no copies in OCLC, Mushar, market and auction records) first and only edition of this medical book of internal diseases written by Barkin, a member of a Turkish medical delegation to establish a service system, to manage the surgical services, and to initiate the earliest modern medical education in Afghanistan. Additionally, this delegation served as the private physicians of the Afghan royal family. 

This richly illustrated book both in colour and b/w, which the author dedicated to both his colleagues and students on the frontispiece, was the first modern book on the “internal diseases” in the Afghan medical literature.

TURKISH MEDICAL DELEGATION IN AFGHANISTAN

A Turkish medical delegation was invited to Afghanistan within the scope of the Turkish-Afghan Friendship Agreement signed in Moscow on March 1, 1921, to establish a service system, manage the Afghan surgical services, and initiate the earliest modern medical education. Ömer Sevket Bey (Özöncel), who was invited to Kabul University Faculty of Medicine as a chemistry professor in 1934, also founded the School of Pharmacy in Afghanistan. Ömer Sevket Bey taught the first modern pharmacy lessons in Afghanistan together with his daughter and chemist Saliha Öncel (Arkun) and returned to Turkey after the school gave its first graduates in 1937. Pharmacist Selahattin Tandal replaced Prof. Ömer Sevket Öncel at the school.

With the decision of the Ministry Council of the Republic of Turkey, Tandal went to Kabul University and worked as a Professor of General Chemistry between 1937 and 1942, and an Ordinary Professor of General Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry between 1942 and 1947: He was awarded the Education Medal of the Afghanistan government. He was instrumental in the organization of a state pharmacy and pharmaceutical laboratories. Tandal also supervised the production and standardization of drugs and chemicals in Afghanistan, until his departure in 1947.

Not in Mushar.; As of May 2024, we can’t trace any copies in OCLC, or KVK.