[THE BOOK SUGGESTED BY ATATÜRK: "FINLAND: THE COUNTRY OF WHITE LILIES"] Beyaz zambaklar memleketinde. Finlandiya'ya aid harsî tedkik. Translated by Ali Haydar [Taner], (1883-1956).

GRIGORY [SPIRIDONOVICH] [PETROF] PETROV, (1866-1925)

Kitabhane-i Hilmi, Maarifet Matbaasi, Ist., 1928.

Original decorative cloth bdg. with art-deco embossing of flowers. Illustrated cover inside. An ex-owner stamp on colophon. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Ottoman script. 143, [1] p. First Edition of Petrov's study on Finland in the Ottoman Turkish. Beyaz zanbaklar memleketinde. Finlandiya'ya aid harsî tedkik. Translated by Ali Haydar [Taner]. Grigory Spiridonovich Petrov was a priest, public figure, and publicist. Petrov was born in Yamburg (now Kingisepp, Leningrad Oblast) and graduated from St. Petersburg Theological Seminary in 1886 and St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1891. From 1895 to 1906, he served as a prior to the Church of Mikhaylovsky Ordnance Academy; while in 1902–1904 he also worked as a lecturer of theology at the Polytechnical Institute. He wrote books, brochures, and articles where he advocated Christian socialism. In 1899-1917, he contributed to the Russkoe slovo newspaper. In 1901-1903, he took part in various religious and philosophic meetings. In 1905, he joined the liberal renovated church movement in opposition to the Russian Orthodox Church and published Pravda Bozhiya newspaper in 1906. In 1907, he was elected Deputy of the Second State Duma as a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party. The same year following his critical letter addressed to Metropolitan Antony he was banned from his ministry and sent for discipline to the Cheremenetsky Monastery. He was defrocked in 1908 and consequently was banned from living in St. Petersburg. He traveled around the country giving lectures. Petrov welcomed the February Revolution of 1917, although his attitude towards the Bolshevik overturn was negative. In 1920, he emigrated and lived in Bulgaria and Serbia. He died in Paris and was buried in Munich. Finland, the country of white lilies is a journalistic book by Russian priest and social activist Petrov. After the October Revolution, when Petrov lived in Serbia, he wrote a journalistic book, dedicated to Finland and Johan Vilhelm Snellman. The book describes the country as a role model, as a living example for Russia and other countries. In 1923 the book was published in the Serbian entitled 'Zidari Jivota' [i.e. Creators of life]. After Petrov's death, the book was published and reprinted many times in different languages (including 14 times in Bulgarian and 16 times in the Turkish languages). The ideas expressed in the book about Finland were received with great enthusiasm both in Serbia and in Bulgaria. In 1926, a cultural and social group named "Gregory Petrov" was created to disseminate the ideas of Petrov. Michael Yovov, the national education minister of Bulgaria wrote that the Finnish model is an example of a perfect solution to public problems in Bulgaria, in the preface of one of the editions in the Bulgarian language. Ali Haydar [Taner], (1883-1956), was a  Turkish educator, writer, and intellectual. He was born in Bulgaria. He was an educator who played an active role in the field of education in Turkey especially after the proclamation of the Republic. The preparation of the Law on Unification of Education (Education Union) is one of the issues he contributed. This rare first edition was translated into Ottoman Turkish by Haydar from its Bulgarian edition. Özege 1934.