Folio (208 x 289 mm). 3 parts in 1 volume: 4 (instead of 8?) pp. of preliminaries (blank, alif, ba, gim); 131, (1 blank) pp. and 80 pp. (bound alternatingly), with 56 etched plates; 39, (1 blank) pp.; 283, (1 blank) pp. Contemporary half calf with gilt-stamped spine and marbled covers. The first edition of the first illustrated medical book ever printed in the Muslim world: the pioneering Ottoman physician Sanizade's (1771-1826) medical compendium, the first three books (on anatomy, physiology, and internal medicine) of what would later be known as "Sani-zade's Canon of Five", "Kitâb ül-evvel fi t-tesrihât" ("Mir'âtül-ebdân fî tesrih-i a'zâil-insân"), "Kitab üs-sânî fi 't-tabîyat", and "Kitâb üs-sâlis Miyâr ül-etibbâ". This was one of the earliest Turkish medical works to draw thoroughly on western, Paracelsian and Vesalian science: indeed, it is modelled on and partly translated from Italian and German sources, such as Anton Störck, Bartolomeo Eustachi, Gabriele Fallopio, and Costanzo Varolio, reproducing anatomical illustrations from a variety of sources including Vesalius. - "[B]y and large Ottoman medicine remained [...] attached to its Galenic roots. [...] Real paradigmatic change began to appear only with the upheavals of 19th-century reforms, when translations and adaptations of new European knowledge made their way to the core of the medical profession. One of the first books to spark this revolution was Ataullah Sanizade's compendium 'Hamse-i sanizade', a series of five books published in Ottoman Turkish from 1820 onward, incorporating new medical knowledge from Europe. Sanizade was a brilliant and innovative physician and theorist (as well as musician, astronomer, and historian) who did much to integrate new medical knowledge with the old. His views on medicine encountered much opposition, mainly because of his support for surgery-based study of anatomy. As a result his request to dedicate his chef d'oeuvre to Sultan Mahmud II was denied. In time, however, the compendium came to replace the earlier canonic texts, and was fondly named 'kanun-i sanizade' (Sanizade's canon), referring, of course, to the old master's 'Qanun'. Although the compendium formally adhered to the humoral system and other concepts of ancient medicine, it was here that blood circulation was mentioned for the first time as a scientific concept and as part of a different medical theory. Some of the terminology included in this book formed the basis for a new medical profession that was beginning to take shape" (D. Ze'evi, Producing Desire [2006], p. 20f.). A five-volume Arabic edition appeared at Bulaq in 1828 by direct order of Mehmet Ali. - Part 1 bound as follows (agreeing with the copy in the BSB Munich): 4 pp. of prelims (blank, alif, ba, gim); 3, (1) pp., (2 plates), 2 pp. [index], 5-34 pp., (17 plates), 3-22 pp. [index], 35-68 pp., (9 plates), 23-35 pp. [index; pp. 25-28 numbered 3-6 in error], 1 bl. p., 69-94 pp., (12 plates), 37-48 pp. [index], 95-100 pp., (6 plates), 49-55 pp. [index], 1 bl. p., 101-106 pp., (3 plates), 57-60 pp. [index], 107-120 pp., (5 plates), 61-70 pp. [index], 121-128 pp., (2 plates), 71-80 pp. [index], 129-131 pp., 1 bl. p. Some dampstaining throughout, more prominently so in several plates. In all, a good copy of this rare work, the only edition published during the author's lifetime. OCLC 608102180.
