[EARLY SMYRNA IMPRINT / FIRST TREATISE OF A PRECISE DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPERIAL OTTOMAN] Abrégé de géographie: Ancienne et moderne, historique, politique, commerciale et religieuse.

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NASSIF MALLOUF (Nâsîf ibn Ilyâs Munim al-Malûf), (Turkish dragoman and orientalist, Professeur de Langues Orientales au College de Smyrne et Auteur de Divers Ouvrages en Arabe et en Turc), (1823-1865). 

Imprimerie de J. Magnis, Smyrne (Smyrna - Izmir), 1851.

Contemporary cloth bdg. with marbled boards. Chipped on extremities on boards, spine. Minor foxing on pages and stains on edges of pages. Overall a very good copy. Cr. 8vo. (19 x 13 cm). In French. [viii], 229, [1] p. Extremely rare first and only edition of Mallouf's 'Geographical summary' which is one of the three books he donated to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. Joseph Magnis (a well-known Greek printer in Smyrna) printed and published the book in Smyrna in 1851. It's entirely French. Mallouf dedicated the book to the members of the Academie des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Constantinople (Encümen-i Dânîsh), whom he listed by name and their positions. Mallouf began with a description of the galaxy (cosmos) and the Earth and then detailed the various countries, continents, and major cities. Ubicini wrote in the Revue de l'Orient (October 1853) that the book was "the first treatise of this genre to contain a precise description of the Ottoman Empire in all its aspects". Book started with Mallouf's letter to the Royal Geographical Academy of Great Britain which indicated that his book published newly, the Ottoman Academy (Encümen-i Dânîs) newly created, is destined to make a new era in the world of ideas in Turkey and that this book was dedicated to the members of the society. And then, he gave a detailed list including the members of the academy including great and very important figures in Turkish / Ottoman history such as Mustafa Resid Pasha, Arif Hikmet Efendi, Hairullah Efendi, Dervish Pasha, Edhem Pasha, etc. Mallouf, was a Lebanese lexicographer. He was a member of the Société Asiatique, a professor of Eastern literature at the Collège de la Propagande at Smyrna, and Secretary-Interpreter to the irregular Anglo-Ottoman cavalry. Besides Arabic, his mother tongue, he was learned in Persian, Turkish, English, French, Modern Greek, and Italian. (Sources: Nassif Mallouf: Dragoman and orientalist, 1823-1865, Charles Malouf Samaha). Not in OCLC. Extremely rare.