[ONE OF THE EARLIEST BOOKS OF THE MODERN WATCHES PRINTED IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE / TIME & ASTRONOMY] Takvîm-i Nücûmî [i.e., Calendar to the Astrology]

AHMED SAKIR PASHA (1838-1899).

Matbaa-yi Ebüzziya, Kostantiniyyah [Constantinople], AH 1309 [Colophon date 1306] = [1892].

Original cloth. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 79, [4] p., tables, and b/w lithographic plate of the pocket watch.

First and only edition of this attractive rare book of astronomy including the history of the Islamic calendar as well as tables showing solar and lunar movements and decrees of the 1322 year of the Roman calendar and 1310 year of the Hijri calendar; storms, eclipses, Islamic feasts by an Ottoman intellectual Sakir Pasha lived in the 19^th century Constantinople. The book also consists of sections such as the differences between the Lunar and Solar calendars used in the Middle East, mathematical calculations, time differences in the lands of the Ottoman Empire in Asia, Europe, and Africa, the list of the countries in these continents and their distances from each other. This is also known as one of the earliest books which has a detailed account of working principles and the use of modern watches.

Sakir Pasha, whose Tanzimat Edict (Reform) was published a year after his birth, was born when modernism in the Western sense entered the Ottoman lands. He served in the Balkans as a member of the Immigration Commission on the immigrant problem that emerged after the Crimean War (1853-1856). Sakir Pasha, who served as assistant governor of Baghdad between 1869 and 1871, made significant contributions to the administration and development of the province. Until his death at the end of the 19th century, he served in many high-state positions and embassy services in Russia, Crete, Arab countries, and many other imperial regions.

Sakir Pasha, a statesman known for his closeness to astronomy and astrology, wrote the book Takvim-i Nücumi.

Özege 19420, TBTK 2417.