Khedivial Government of Egypt (1867–1914).

وقایع مصریه (Vekayi-i Misriyye) [The Egyptian Gazette].

al-Qāhira al-‘Āmira (Cairo), Bulaq Press (Matba‘at Dīwān al-Waqā’i‘ al-Miṣriyya), 17 Ramazan 1287 AH / c. October 1871.

One bifolium, 4 pp., on laid paper, with text in two columns bordered by double rules. Headed by the newspaper’s emblem and timetable.

The official Ottoman Turkish-language gazette of Egypt, Vekayi-i Misriyye (“The Egyptian Affairs”), established in 1828 under Muhammad Ali Pasha, was the first newspaper printed in the Turkish language and one of the earliest in the Islamic world. This rare issue (no. 53), printed in Cairo in 1871, offers a detailed window into Egypt’s domestic affairs, foreign campaigns, and global political awareness under Khedive Ismail Pasha. Printed entirely in Ottoman Turkish (Arabic script) by the Bulaq Press, the issue features striking typographic elements: a pyramid emblem with the newspaper’s title radiating beneath the Egyptian sun, and a timetable of Cairo prayer times in the header.

Contents

The gazette opens with a report from the Khedivial court on the arrest and trial of two men found carrying weapons in disguise—emphasising the state’s consolidation of internal security. Further sections detail:

• News from Egypt (Havadis-i Misr), including administrative and judicial activity;
• Military operations in Sudan, framed as a righteous jihad to suppress rebellion and the slave trade, with Egyptian forces advancing from Khartoum into contested territories;
• Tensions with Abyssinia, foreshadowing the Egyptian-Abyssinian Wars of the mid-1870s;
• World affairs, including the exile of Napoleon III, the rise of the German Empire, the Paris Commune, Russia’s reversal of the Black Sea neutrality, and the unification of Italy under Victor Emmanuel II.

The issue closes with a judicial decree from the Khedivial Council, sentencing one of the armed suspects to hard labour and the other to exile in Fashoda.

Historical Significance

Vekayi-i Misriyye was launched as a vehicle of state propaganda and administrative communication, modelled on European gazettes and pre-dating the Ottoman Empire’s own official journal (Takvîm-i Vekâyi‘). This newspaper played a pivotal role in shaping the early Ottoman press tradition and reflects Egypt’s semi-independent status under the Khedives. It is especially notable for its early use of the printing press in Islamic lands, its international outlook, and its function as a governmental mouthpiece during a period of imperial expansion and reform.

Condition: moderate browning and occasional foxing; folds as issued.