[THE FIRST PRINTED QUR'AN IN CRIMEA] كلام قديم / Kelâm kadîm [i.e., The Qur’an]

GASPIRINSKY, ISMAIL (1851-1914), (Publisher).

Bakhchysarai: Matbaa-i Tercüman, AH 1316 [CE 1898].

Original green cloth binding with flap, decorated and lettered in gilt, with marbled pastedowns. 16mo (ca. 10.5 x 7.5 cm). In Arabic. 522 pp. Binding slightly rubbed and worn at extremities, with minor loss of cloth at the edges and some wear to the flap; occasional light foxing and staining internally. Otherwise, a very good copy.

An early lithograph pocket-sized edition of the celebrated Bakhchysarai Qur'an, printed at Ismail Gaspirinsky's Tercüman press, which produced the first known Qur'an printed in Crimea (Yakubovych). According to Mykhaylo Yakubovych, the first edition appeared in November 1898, following a limited number of preliminary copies produced in 1896.

Gaspirinsky established his Tercüman printing house in Bakhchysarai in 1883, alongside the newspaper of the same name. The press became the principal vehicle for his publishing and educational programme, producing newspapers, books and textbooks for the Muslim communities of the Russian Empire. The printing of the Qur'an formed part of this wider project, combining modern typography and inexpensive production with Gaspirinsky's efforts to extend literacy and education among Russian Muslims.

The present edition was printed in AH 1316 [1898], following permission from the Russian imperial censorship authorities in St. Petersburg. Printed in Arabic in the Hafs 'an 'Asim reading, this early lithograph edition gives the sura headings and numbers of verses, with individual verses separated by small typographical ornaments. Gaspirinsky subsequently issued the Bakhchysarai Qur'an in different formats, and its circulation extended beyond the Russian Empire, with contemporary evidence recording copies offered for sale as far away as India.

Ismail Gaspirinsky (1851-1914) was a Crimean Tatar intellectual, publisher, and educational reformer, and one of the leading advocates of cultural and political awakening among the Muslim peoples of the Russian Empire. Opposing the Empire's policies of Russification, he promoted education, literacy, and a common Turkic literary language as means of strengthening Muslim identity and resisting cultural assimilation. In 1883, he founded the influential newspaper Tercüman in Bakhchysarai, together with a printing house that became a major centre for Muslim publishing in the Russian Empire. He also pioneered the Usul-i Jadid (New Method) educational movement, which spread throughout Crimea, the Volga region, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. His activities frequently attracted the suspicion of the Tsarist authorities, who accused him of promoting Pan-Turkism and Pan-Islamism. Following the Russian Revolution of 1905, he played a prominent role in organising the empire's Muslim communities, presiding over the First All-Russian Muslim Congress and contributing to the formation of the political movement Ittifaq al-Muslimin. His publishing and educational initiatives formed an important part of the broader movement for Muslim cultural autonomy and reform under Russian imperial rule. (TDVI).

Sources: As of October 2026, OCLC locates six institutional copies (OCLC 236011386), only two of which are in American libraries: Middlebury College Library and the University of Utah. Mykhaylo Yakubovych, “Commenting, Publishing and Translating: The Qur'an in the Russian Empire”; contemporary Russian censorship and consular records cited therein; TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, s.v. “Tercüman”; bibliographical records of the Bakhchysarai Kelâm-ı Kadîm.