[QURAN / CRIMEA / LITHOGRAPHY] Kelâm-i kadîm [Qalam qadîm]. Prep. by Ismail Gasprinsky

THE GLORIOUS QURAN. Matbaat al-Tercüman, Bahçesaray (Bakhchysarai) - St. Petersburg (Crimea-Russia), AH 1316 = [1898]. Original full leather with a fore-edge flap. 24mo. (11 x 7,5 cm). In Arabic. 522, [1] p. Framed text block. A manuscript note on the last blank page reads [It was given as a gift to my wife Behire Hanim while we were in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq]. Rebacked spine and fore-edge. Otherwise, a fine copy. Lithographed edition. Scarce early holy Quran printed in Crimea, Bakhchysarai in the period of Russian rule, printed at the initiative of Ismail Gaspirali (Gasprinsky), (1851-1914). It was printed with special permission from the Russian government (St. Petersburg) on October 20, 1898, at the same printing house as the first Tatar newspaper in Bakhchysarai titled “Tercüman” founded by Gasprinsky in 1883 and existed till 1918. Gasprinskiy was a leading Crimean Tatar intellectual, educator, publisher, and politician. He arranged the printing of the Quran in Bakhchisaray. He was one