[OTTOMAN AFRICA - LIBYA - SAHARA] Trablusgarb'tan Sahrâ-yi Kebîr'e dogru. Sahrâ teskilâti ve akvâmi hakkinda tedkikat: Sahrâ'nin teskilâti, iklimi, hayvanat ve... [i.e. Travels from Libya to the Sahara].
[ABDULKADIR] CÂMÎ [BAYKURT sic. BAYKUT] (Fizan meb'usu), (1877-1949). Nisan Babikyan Matbaasi., Dersaadet - Istanbul, [AR 1326 = AH 1327] = 1910.
COMPLETE TITLE: [OTTOMAN AFRICA - AFRICANA - VOYAGE FROM LIBYA INTO SAHARA DESERT] Trablusgarb'tan Sahrâ-yi Kebîr'e dogru. Sahrâ teskilâti ve akvâmi hakkinda tedkikat: Sahrâ'nin teskilâti, iklimi, hayvanat ve nebatati, Sahrâ buldani ile beledî ve Bedevî akvâmin tarz-i hayat ve maisetleri, araklari hakkinda tedkikât ve tetebbuât.
In red contemporary cloth binding with gilt lettering on spine. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 13 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 220, [2] p., 41 unnumbered plates (incl. 68 b/w photos), and 3 maps. Pages are untrimmed and uncut mostly. Roumi: 1326 = Hegira: 1327 = Gregorian: 1910.
First and only edition of this extremely rare book, including a historically significant eyewitness account of Cami Baykurt, who was an Ottoman officer in the Tripoli War (1911-1912), describing the climate, the flora, and the fauna at the Sahara desert and around Libya; the Bedouins and their customs with their social life, their culinary culture and their special drinks in his book with a brilliant style. This book was prepared to present Tripoli, located in the Libyan lands today, and Fizan in the south and the desert roads in between to the Ottoman intelligentsia.
Baykurt was a Turkish politician and soldier who served as deputy of the first period of the Turkish Republican Parliament. He was the first minister of Turkish foreign affairs in the Republican period. He had participated as an officer in the Battle of Tripoli back in the day. The provinces of Tripoli and Fizan were accepted as destinations of exile in the last period of the Ottoman Empire. The province of Tripoli, the last center of a few Ottoman sanjaks, had been the granary of ancient Rome in the past with its large villages.
Özege 21177.; Kursun p. 294.; Not in ATYB I (Askeri Tarih Yayinlari Bibliyografyasi).; OCLC 165148162 (with some misread and misspelled words; Kursun mentioned in his bibliography those misread words, especially 'Kazan mebusu -deputy of Kazan- instead of a deputy of Fizan about his title in some catalogs like OCLC. Kursun has a short but useful biography of Câmî).