Small quarto (260 x 180 mm), handsome contemporary binding of dark green moire silk over green morocco, boards with concentric decorative borders inlaid in gilt; original pink endpapers; the text is lithographically printed in the Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters); pp. 84, with a folding engraved map (470 x 410 cm) at the rear; the contents are in fine condition, as is the binding aside from some minor staining at the top edge of the upper board.

The text is divided into twenty-two chapters, as follows: The Ottoman lands in Asia; The land of Arabia; Ajamistan (Persia); The Kabul kingdom (Afghanistan); The Herat kingdom; Baluchistan; Turkestan; British India (this chapter includes sub-sections such as Bombay, Calcutta, etc); The Sindh lands; The Xinjiang Autonomous Region; Nepal; The Principality of Sindh; The Maldives; Transoxiana; Burma; Siam; Hindi Alâ (British Empire beyond the Ganges); Territory of Cocos; Annam region (Indochina); China; Japan; the last chapter covers a number of smaller regions.

There is a possibility that the anonymous work was prepared for geography classes at Mühendishane-i Berr-i Hümâyûn, the Imperial School of Military Engineering. Founded in 1795 during the reign of Selim II, this was the first engineering school in the Ottoman Empire; however, the book was printed without any form of introduction or preface which might have confirmed a definite connection with this institution.

The accurate and beautifully engraved map at the end of the book is surely one of the highpoints of Ottoman cartography in this period.

Provenance: Collection of Gunnar Valfrid Jarring (1907-2002), Swedish Turkologist and diplomat.

Rare, OCLC locates a single copy in North America, at Harvard.

Not in Ozege; TBTK 4969.