Atlas-i Cedid (the modern Atlas) with the text, Ucalet ul Cografiya. 2 vols. by Mahmud Raif Pasha - 1802

The Text volume printed in 1218 H-1803 AD by Abd ur Rahman el Muderris in Uskudar. 79 ff in hard cover binding with gilt Tughra of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II. and the second volume in full leather binding tooled in gold, contains 24 maps (of 25) lacking the celestial chart. otherwise, complete fine set in a contemporary fine binding for the Atlas volume. limited to 50 copies. Cedid Atlas (or Atlas-ı Cedid) is the first published atlas in the Muslim world, printed and published in 1803 in Istanbul, then the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The full title name of the atlas reads as Cedid Atlas Tercümesi (meaning, literally, "A Translation of a New Atlas") and in most libraries outside Turkey, it is recorded and referenced accordingly. Although manuscripts and hand-drawn maps were widely available throughout the Muslim world, due mainly to religious reasons, the printing of books started only in 1729 by Ibrahim Muteferrika and the Cedid Atlas could only be published in 1803 by Müderris Abdurrahman Efendi in a style based on European geographical knowledge as well as European map-making methods of the day. The Cedid Atlas includes a monochrome celestial chart (missed from our copy) and 24 hand-colored copper engraved maps of various parts of the world; all the maps are actually adaptations of William Faden's General Atlas. The maps are preceded by a (1+79) page-long treatise of geography, "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye" (separated in our copy) by Mahmud Raif Efendi and a title page. The "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye" of Mahmud Raif Efendi was printed one year later, in 1804, and bound together with the atlas in many copies. From a point of view of art, the atlas is notable for the color of the maps as well as the beauty of the script on the maps. The Cedid Atlas was published in parallel with the developments of the Ottoman Empire's Nizam-ı Cedid, the "New-Order" or the "New System" ("Cedid" means "new" and "Nizam" means "system", "regime", or "order") and its title-name reflects this clearly. The atlas was new in terms of cartographical knowledge and well suited to the new system which tried to introduce new institutions into the Ottoman Empire while trying to replace existing ones with contemporary counterparts from the West. Introduced by the ruling padishah (the sultan) of the Ottoman Empire, Selim III, the "New-Order" included a series of reforms which mainly modernized and changed the structure of the then existing Ottoman army and changed the administrative structure of the Empire. It was an effort to catch up with technical, military, economic, and administrative achievements of the West against which the Ottoman Empire was losing grounds since the 17th century. New military and engineering schools were established and governmental units related with the foreign relations and affairs were re-organized to align with the new system. For these schools, governmental units, and the wholly re-organized army reformed according to the European practice, a new understanding and applications of geography of the standards of the West were necessary and the Cedid Atlas was translated and printed for this purpose. Only 50 copies of this atlas were printed at the press. A copy was presented to Selim III; several copies were also presented to the high-ranking officials of the Empire, some were reserved for the library of Muhendishane (military engineering school of the time), and the remaining were reserved for sale. However, during the "Alemdar Vakası", an uprising of the janissaries in Istanbul during November 15–18, 1808, a fire at the warehouse of the press destroyed an unknown (unaccounted) number of the copies reserved for sale. Based on several estimates and accounting for the single maps (torn-out from bound volumes of the atlas) sold or being sold worldwide, it is believed that a maximum of 20 complete examples could be present in libraries or in private collections whereas some sources suggest that there exist only 10 complete and intact copies in the world. As such, it's one of the rarest printed atlases of historical value. A few sources outside Turkey and the Muslim world also refer to this atlas as the New Great Atlas. In Turkey, since the printing press of the book was located in the historical Üsküdar (Scutari) region (now a municipality) of Istanbul, the atlas sometimes is referred to as the Üsküdar Atlası.