1877 — Very Good Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928) Original black cloth. Title lettered gilt on spine with traditional decorations. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters. [1], 334 p., 17 numerous woodcut plates with tissue papers. The attractive illustrations show important Islamic buildings in the region, portraits of locals, and views of the cities. Occasionally foxing on some pages and tissue papers, some notes on the blank pages in pencil. Otherwise a very good copy. Exceedingly rare first Turkish edition of this eye-witness travel account of American explorer and diplomat Schuyler's two-volume "Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja", describing the fall of the Khiva Khanate, Muslim life in Central Asian cities, and detailed geographical survey Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan. Schuyler's account gives detailed information on the Russian steppe and the Volga River before proceeding to Central Asia proper, with chapters on the Syr Darya, daily life in Tashkent, bazaars and trade, Samarkand, the Zarafshan Valley, and Hodjent (present-day Khujand, Tajikistan) and Kurama (a mountain range in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan); Khokand, Bukhara, Issyk Kul (in present-day Kyrgyzstan) and Semiretch (present-day Semirech'e, Kazakhstan), and Kuldja (in present-day China), and concludes with chapters on Russian administration, Russian foreign policy in Asia, and the Khivan Campaign of 1873, in which Russia conquered the Khivan Khanate. Eugene Schuyler was an American diplomat, explorer, author, and scholar who was one of the first foreigners invited by the Russian government to see Russia's newly conquered territories in Central Asia. In 1873, while serving as the secretary of the American legation in Saint Petersburg, Schuyler made an eight-month trip through lands then little known to outsiders. He gathered extensive geographical information and wrote an account of his travels for the National Geographic Society and a lengthy confidential report for the U.S. Department of State. He was critical of the Russian treatment of the Tartars but otherwise saw the Russian presence in Central Asia as benign. (Source: World Digital Library). Very rare, couldn't be found in the registers of auctions and catalogs in recent years. Özege 14488.; Karatay TM, II, 725.; MKAHTBK, II, 1372.; Tarâzî 253.; Ihsanoglu, pp. 228-229. OCLC 24092745, 777711224, 13040444.
