[THE FIRST BOOK ON SOCIALISM IN TURKEY / FINE BINDINGS] Sosyalizm: Sosyalizmin esbâbindan, hizmetinden, sosyalistlerin hayât-i içtimâiyelerindeki vezâifinden ve takib olunan maksad ve gâyeden basheder (Millet Kitabhânesi Aded 11). [i.e., Socialism]

TURNER, JORJ [GEORGES TOURNAIRE] (fl. 1900-1930).

Kitabhâne-i Islâm ve Askerî / Tüccarzâde Ibrahim Hilmi, Dersaadet, Istanbul AH 1327 = [CE 1909].

Complete title: [THE FIRST BOOK ON SOCIALISM IN TURKEY / FINE BINDINGS] Sosyalizm: Sosyalizmin esbâbindan, hizmetinden, sosyalistlerin hayât-i içtimâiyelerindeki vezâifinden ve takib olunan maksad ve gâyeden basheder (Millet Kitabhânesi Aded 11). [i.e., Socialism]. 

Original salmon-pink cloth binding, with the title, series, and publisher’s details lettered in white on the front board, framed by black Art Deco borders. Spine lettered in black, with the emblem of the celebrated Ottoman publisher on the rear board. Original green endpapers. Large foolscap 8vo. (18.5 × 12.5 cm). In Ottoman Turkish (Arabic script). 124, [1] fihrist [index] pp. An excellent copy, with only slight marginal foxing.

An extremely rare first edition of the first Turkish book on socialism, translated by Haydar Rifat Yorulmaz, who was also the first to translate Karl Marx’s Das Kapital into Turkish. This copy, preserved in its exceptionally attractive original decorated cloth binding, is particularly scarce, with very few examples appearing on the antiquarian book market or in auction records. This clothbound issue appears to have been produced in considerably smaller numbers than the standard paperback edition, although the exact print run is unknown. Copies in such fine original condition are especially difficult to find.

The book opens with a foreword by İbrahim Hilmi Çığıraçan (1876–1963), one of the pioneering publishers of the late Ottoman Empire. He established his publishing house in 1896 and went on to publish more than 1,000 books on history, literature, politics, religion, and social issues. His foreword is followed by Turner's essay, What Is Socialism?, which provides Turkish readers with a concise and systematic introduction to socialism. The publication thus marks an important early stage in the dissemination of socialist thought in Turkish intellectual and political history.

The book was translated by Haydar Rifat Yorulmaz from Tournaire’s Le Socialisme: Notions élémentaires, first published in French in 1909, just a year before the appearance of this Turkish edition. Its publication came shortly after the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, which ended the Hamidian autocracy, restored constitutional government, and created a more favourable climate for the circulation of socialist and other left-wing ideas in the Ottoman Empire. Yorulmaz was a prolific translator who translated more than a hundred works into Turkish, including numerous pioneering translations of socialist, anarchist, and other radical political writings, many appearing in Turkish for the first time. He was also a practising lawyer, particularly known for his involvement in cases concerning Turkey’s non-Muslim minorities.

References: Özege 18238. As of October 2026, three OCLC records (984498353, 1430431461, and 65804261) identify ten institutional holdings of the paperback edition, including seven in North American libraries: Harvard University, the Library of Congress, Concordia Theological Seminary, Virginia Tech, Concordia College Library, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Hawaii Pacific University.