[FINLAND MODEL FOR THE YOUNG REPUBLIC OF TURKEY / WOMEN] Finlandiya. [i.e. Finland]. Cover designed by AK

[BASAR], SÜKÛFE NIHÂL (1896-1973).

Gazetecilik ve Matbaacilik T.A.S., Istanbul, 1935.

Original wrappers in avant-garde design. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In Turkish. 109, [3] p., photographic b/w plates. An uncut copy in excellent condition.

Original wrappers in avant-garde design. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In Turkish. 109, [3] p., photographic b/w plates. An uncut copy in excellent condition.

The first edition of this extremely rare book including a firsthand travel account of Finland written by a female Turkish activist who took part in the women's feminist movement during Turkey's nation-building process in the early Republican period. The book is inspired by In the Land of the White Lilies, a compulsory sourcebook in the Kemalist educational system. This is the first modern Turkish (in Latin script) book published after the Letter Revolution in 1928 to compare the development of Finland with the New Republic of Turkey and discuss the view of official history (Türk Tarih Tezi) that centred it.

According to her preface, Nihal wrote the book during her travels to Finland and completed it in 1935, with the assistance of Turkish intellectuals such as Sefika Hanım, the niece of Yusuf Akçura (1876-1935), and Mehmed Sadık (1895-1971), the owner of the Turkish newspaper Yeni Turan published in Finland.

This rare and attractive book contains Nihal’s descriptions of Finland’s transformation as a newly emerging country in the early 20th century, accompanied by original photographs. Nihal provides a detailed account of Finland’s innovative movements during this period, including agricultural and economic development, and the biographies of famous individuals who contributed to the country’s growth, such as Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806-1881). She also draws comparisons with the New Turkish Republic, exploring themes like Peasantism and Statism within the context of the insights gained from her travels across Finland.

Nihal was schooled in Damascus in Ottoman Syria and completed her secondary education in Thessaloniki in Ottoman Greece, Beirut in Ottoman Lebanon, and Istanbul due to her father's profession as a civil servant. She learned literature, Arabic, and Persian at home. She graduated from the Geography department of the Literature Faculty of Istanbul Darülfünün in 1919.

She took an active role in various women's associations, wrote columns in journals and newspapers about women's rights. Wanting to represent and express the voice of "the new women" of the early Turkish Republican era, she highlighted female characters in her short stories and novels. She was arguing that women had to have professions, yet she was against the fact that women were seeing marriage as a profession.

NLoT 000010245.; As of May 2024, OCLC shows only four copies (13106206), none in the US libraries.