[TOPOGRAPHY / CARTOGRAPHY / ENGINEERING] Mecmuâ-yi fenn-i mesâha. [i.e., Collection of land surveying and topography]

OSMAN NAZIM PASHA (1853-1913), Mihran Matbaasi, Istanbul, AH 1299 = [1882]. In fine original prize binding of “Üsküdar Füyûzât-i Hamidî Mektebi”. 4to. (28 x 20 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 35, [29] p., 150 numbered woodcut illustrations in 29 plates. Calligraphic title of the school’s name and “Üsküdar” in decorative borders on the front board and Ottoman state symbol on the rear board, occasional stains on the rear board, and some marginal tears pp. 18-35, not affecting the illustrations and text. Overall, a very good copy. Extremely rare first and only edition of this one of the earliest texts providing an attractive account of “the planning and execution of every successful infrastructure” of land surveying and mapping, which is also one of the 318 books gifted to the Library of Congress (LoC) in America by Sultan Abdulhamid II. In the book, the tools, and methods to be used in land surveying are described in depth with figures. The work consists of six