Cuinet V., “La Turquie d Asie, Geographie administrative: statistique, descriptive et raisonee de chaque province de l’Asie Mineure”, Paris 1892. First edition. Large 4to 28x18cm. Contemporray paper boards as issued. In fascicules (booklets) as issued. Uncut and unopened. The three fascicules, published in 1892, forming the first volume (complete) of this important work published over five years. Half title, title pages 1-242 (first fascicule), pages 243-610 (second) and pages 611-892 (third). Several maps, very light scattered spotting. One board rubbed. A very good set. Vital Cuinet (1833-1896) travelled several times in the Levant. In the early 1880s he was commissioned to establish the first scientific description of Ottoman Asia Minor (with concrete description and references of its population, trade, resources etc, in a province by province basis) to be used to establish the ability of the Ottoman Empire to pay its debt. Cuinet tried to fulfill this task, according to himself, they were limitations imposed by the Turkish authorities for security reasons and limitations imposed by the circumstances, as some remote provinces were still outside of an effective Ottoman control (especially some Arab provinces). Nevertheless Cuinet work is the only reliable source for the whole of Ottoman Asia Minor up to the fall of the Empire. It provides unique information. As a work commissioned by the Ottoman Public Debt Commetee, it had a very limited print run. It had been published in separate booklets (fascicules) as far as the work advanced from 1892 to 1896. The first three booklets in this lot cover Trebizond vilayet and all Pontic provinces, Erzeroum vilayet and Armenia, Ankara, Sivas and Konia vilayets in Anatolia, and Kriti and Archipelago vilayets in the Aegean (including all Kriti, still Ottoman, and all Ottoman Aegean islands). A UNIQUE ACCOUNT AND SOURCE. EXTREMELY RARE