Les Bas-fonds de Constantinople (1892, first edition)
Paul de Regla expose of the underworld of Constantinople
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
First edition. Hardback, rebound in plain binder's cloth with leather title label to spine. 18 × 11.5cm, xviii + 400pp. French text.
The title roughly translates as The Underworld of Constantinople and is the author's travel writings around Constantinople during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II. De Regla attacks the government regime as corrupt and oppressive and with a brutal secret police, and delves into the seedy side of life of drugs, vice, crime, and social misery in the city’s back alleys, taverns, and gambling dens.
The author lived and worked as a doctor in Constantinople for several years, and although this book caused a bit of a scandal when published (the Ottoman Embassy in Paris tried to suppress it), it was written as much to satisfy the taste of French readers who, in the then current trend of Orientalism, were eager to read of eastern intrigue.
Condition
A fair to good copy. The pages are heavily tanned (mostly to the margins) and the book has a musty odour. The covers are fairly grubby but the books remains in strong readable condition.
Books are currently zero-rated for duty (as of May 2026), so the price shown is the price you pay.
Price
£40.00
