This paper aims to examine the relationship between modern European knowledge and the classical Islamic science tradition in the late Ottoman world, by way of analyzing an engineering textbook which was read in the Ottoman Military-Engineering School (Mühendishâne-i Berrî-i Hümayûn.) The experience of Military Technical Schools and Engineering Schools in the late Ottoman Empire created a small group of engineers who were familiar with European sciences and languages. Moreover some of these engineers had a traditional madrasa education which included classical Islamic sciences such as Mantıq (Logic), Sarf (Arabic Morphology), Nahv (Arabic Syntax), Fiqh (jurisprudence), Kalaam (theology) etc. And they were faced with the need of translating engineering books in the libraries of military schools, the majority of which was in French. Bash Hoca Ishaq Effendi (d. 1836) was the one of these engineers who wanted his accumulation of the classical Islamic knowledge to be integrated with modern European sciences. Towards this aim he authored his most voluminous and well known, encyclopedic work called Majmua al-Ulum al-Riyadiyah (Tr. Mecmûa-i Ulûm-i Riyāziye, literally Journal of the Science of Mathematics). What was the preferred methodology pursued in the sections of Majmua of Bash Hoca Ishaq Effendi when he was translating and writing his books? How did he arrange the sections of his textbook and why? How authentic are his sections on mechanics? If they are not original, where were they translated from? Can one claim that early movements resembling modernization played a systematic role in Ottoman scientific studies through examining this textbook? Did Bash Hoca Ishaq Effendi make an original contribution to contemporary scientific knowledge? Furthermore, how does one evaluate such issues as “original contribution” and “authenticity”? By comparing the sections on mechanics in modern European physics books and those of the Mecmûa, this paper will try to answer the above questions as a way of grappling with larger issues such as transmission of technical knowledge in the late Ottoman Empire, varieties of Ottoman response to inflow of European scientific knowledge and the evolution of the traditional Ottoman madrasa education.