[FIRST ORIGINAL SCI-FI IN TURKISH] Baska dünyalarda canli mahlûkât var midir, yâhûd, fizik, kimya, ilm-i hayât nokta-i nazarindan seyyârâtda serâit-i hayâtiyenin tedkîki (Beseriyetin Fenden Sordugu Suâller 1). [i.e. Are there alive creatures in other worlds?].

Original pictorial wrappers. Demy 8vo. (22 x 15 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 59 p., 23 unnumbered b/w plates. Occasionally fading on pages. Otherwise a very good copy. First edition of this extremely rare first science fiction book discusses the biological probability of the possibility of life on planets in the Solar System, with semi-fictional texts, in the light of scientific knowledge at the time of publication. Osman Nuri Eralp was a Turkish veterinarian and microbiologist. Eralp was born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire. He completed his university education at "Mekteb-i Tibbiye-i Mülkiye" which was the medical school of Darülfünun [i.e. House of Multiple Sciences, name of Istanbul University in Ottoman era]. To continue studying for a post-graduate qualification, he attended Sorbonne and Pasteur Institute. After graduation, he worked as a veterinarian while continuing his research studies. After the declaration of the Constitutional Regime in 1908, he worked as a full-time academic at Istanbul University and Ankara University. He lectured on histology and embryology. Eralp contributed notably to the field of bacteriology via his research on microorganisms (tuberculosis, anthrax, cholera, syphilis, gonorrhea), and the field of virology by his research on rinderpest. He wrote the first science fiction book in Turkey titled "Baska dünyalarda canli mahlûkât var midir" [i.e. Are there alive creatures in other worlds?]. (Wikipedia). Özege 1712.; TBTK 10040.; Not located in OCLC.

Lingue: Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928)