156 - ALEXANDRE BONEAU: Les Turcs et la Civilisation. Paris, 1860

ALEXANDRE BONEAU: Les Turcs et la Civilisation. Paris, 1860 First edition. In 4to, in the original publisher’s paper covers. Text clean and bright. Complete and in almost fine condition. Bonneau, a French journalist and ethnologist, travelled in the Levant and offers a first-hand account of the inhumane conditions in the Ottoman Empire during the mid-19th century. His observations focus on the systematic violation of the basic human rights of Christian subjects under Ottoman rule. A very rare and critical account, Bonneau concludes that the Turks were “far from civilized nations” and that drastic measures were required. The work reflects the intense European pressure for reforms that followed the Crimean War. Even their hesitant implementation led, within a generation, to the economic and social dominance of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the century, the Turkish population was largely reduced to peasants, soldiers, and minor civil servants. A crucial work documenting the debates around reform and the gradual move towards equality of Christians in the Ottoman Levant.