Description

This is a rare first printed Ottoman book on Geology with a highly decorative originally coloured plate.

The text is based on an Arabian translation of French work Géologie Populaire à la Portée de Tout le Monde Appliquée à l’Agriculture et à l’Industrie by Nérée Boubée, published in Paris, in 1833. The Arabic edition was published in Cairo in 1842 under a title Al-Aqwal al-Murziya fi ‘ilm Bunyat al-Kura al Ardiyya.

The author of the Ottoman adapted translation was Rusçuklu Ali Fethi, a scientist and a pioneer of the modern Ottoman geology and philosophy. Ali Fethi Efendi was born in Ruse in today’s Bulgaria and made his career in the scientific institutions affiliated with Istanbul mosques. Beside the translations of scientific works and authoring his own books Ali Fethi is also known for the first library catalogue on the Ottoman empire. He was working on this work titled el-Âsârü’l-âliyye fî Hazâini’l-Kütübi’l-Osmaâniyye for a better part of five years and included the inventory of 47 libraries.

We could find circa 3 examples of the book on Worldcat. The other examples appear to be eBooks.

References: OCLC 320002641. AEKMK – BDK – MİL- ÖZEGE; 9015. Cf.: Celâl ŞENGÖR, Osmanli’nin ilk jeoloji kitabi ve osmanli’da jeolojinin durumu hakkinda öğrettikleri, 2010; Ferhat Ozcep – Tazegul Ozcep, Notes On The History Of Geophysics In Ottoman Empire. In: History of Geo- and Space Sciences, September 2014, 5(2), pp. 163-174.