F,arly Arabic printing: A catalogue of attitudes

fu
Michael V. Albin
It i s not too much to say that the Isl ami c pri nted book
has received scant attention from cultural historians
or even from what used to be called Orientalists. The
focus of book research has been on the manuscri pt,
and scholars and even bibliographers have expended
their energies on study of the text rather than the
context of books. As far as earl y pri nted books are
concerned, there has been vi rtual l y no schol arl y di s-
cussi on of the soci al , economi c or l i terary i mpact of
pri nti ng on the Isl ami c worl d. General hi stori es of
Islam written in the West have, of course, mentioned in
passi ng the i mportance of ei ghteenth century pri nti ng
i n Turkey and ni neteenth century pri nti ng i n Egyptl .
Some Mi deastern hi stori ans have fl eshed out these
spectral al l usi ons wi th books and bi bl i ographi es2.
Neverthel ess, the ful l soci al i mpact of the pri nti ng
press on the soci eti es of Isl am i s a subj ect that awai ts
i ts hi stori an.
In an attempt to hel p suppl y thi s hi story as wel l as
to i nj ect some humani ty i nto a subj ect whi ch unti l now
has been devoi d of reference to the men who pi oneered
the pri nti ng of books i n the Isl ami c worl d. I have
chosen to concentrate on the l i fe and thought of four
key fi gures i n the years of earl y pri nt. By concentrati ng
on personal i ti es I thi nk I can hi ghl i ght the compl exi ty
of responses to pri nt technol ogy. The tradi ti onal ques-
tion directed at Islamic printing is why did Muslims
del ay so l ong i n maki ng use of the pri nti ng press? Let
us turn that questi on i nsi de out to ask: Why, once
opposi ti on to the press was overcome, di d Musl i ms
and others i n the Musl i m worl d pri nt the books they
di d? Di scussi on of the fi rst questi on l eads us down the
ari d path travel ed by Thomas Carter i n hi s ?./ze Inven-
tion oJ' Printing n China and lts Spread Westn'ard
wherei n he says,
' Though
Arab cul ture, whi ch pro-
foundl y i nfl uenced reawakened Europe, knew of Chi -
nese pri nti ng, the refusal of i ts l i terary men to profi t
by the art made Isl am on the whol e a barri er rather
than a bri dge for the transmi ssi on of bl ock pri nti ng to
Europe' 3. I do not i ntend to deal wi th thi s topi c i n thi s
paper. It i s toward a response to the second questi on
that I woul d l i ke to suggest some answers drawn from
the bi ographi es of the men who i ntroduced pri nti ng to
t he East .
Today' s l i st of men i ncl udes two wel l -known names,
one name known onl y di ml y by schol ars and one
i nnovator who to thi s dav remai ns anonymous
(al though we have a pretty good i dea who he i s). To
gi ve a comparati ve perspecti ve and to emphasi ze the
cosmopol i tan nature of l 8th and l 9th century Isl am, I
have chosen to study two Musl i ms, one Chri sti an
Arab, and one khatt' aj a. i .e. European.
I
Among the secul ar sai nts of moderni zai on i n the
Isl ami c worl d Ibrahi m Mri teferri ka (16701-1754) occu-
pi es an archangel i c throne. It was he, a Musl i m not by
bi rth but by conversi on, who Isl ami ci zed the pri nti ng
press, thereby guaranteei ng for hi msel f a pl ace i n the
hagi ocracy of reform. Hi stori ans have often marvel l ed
at the l ateness of the press' s arri val East of Suez. As
recent l y as 1983. Dani el Boorst i n poi nt ed out t hat
i sl am stood as an obstacl e to pri nti ng by means of
metal type, standi ng athwart the transfer of the i nven-
ti on i n ni nth century Chi na and the rfteenth century
breakthrough of Gutenberg of Mai nz. I refer to the
vi ews of Carter and Boorsti n on the resi stance of Isl am
to pri nt technol ogy onl y to hi ghl i ght the accompl i sh-
ment of l brahi m Mri teferri ka. No si mpl e task hi s of
convi nci ng the authori ti es to abandon the tradi ti onal
arguments agai nst the press and reverse course toward
some unknown desti nati on. thus upsetti ng the power-
ful rel i gi ous cl ass and undermi ni ng del i cate soci al
bal ances. In the end however hi s maj or achi evement
l ay not as a pri nter but i n the depl oyment of hi s gi fts
as pol i ti ci an and pol emi ci st.
He was no stranger to controversy. By 1729, when
hi s fi rst book came off the press, he had wi tnessed and
parti ci pated i n the Reformati on i n hi s nati ve Transyl -
vani a. Bi ographi cal detai l s of hi s earl y l i fe are hope-
l essl y garbl ed. Legend, suppl emented by meager hi sto-
ri cal documentati on. recounts that he had taken part
i n the Uni tari an protest agai nst Habsburg Cathol i ci sm
i n Transyl vani a. Ibrahi m, whose Chri sti an name we
do not know. i s sai d to have converted to Isl am
around 1692 when he was taken pri soner by an Otto-
man army detachment. He began a successful career as
a quartermaster of the Turki sh army, but ordi nary
success di d not sati sfy hi m. By the ti me of the acces-
si on of Ahmet III i n 1703 new wi nds were bl owi ng
through the serai , wi nds that came from the West.
Ibrahi m had come to the noti ce of powerful court
fi gures, chi ef among them Sai t Mehmet Paga, a young
Manuscr i pt s of t he Mi ddl e East 5 ( 1990- 1991) ( er Ter Lugt Pr ess, Donker st eeg 19, 2312 HA Lei den. Net her l ands, 1993 ISSN 0920-0401
MICHAEL W. ALBIN. EARLY ARABIC PRINTING 1 1 5
man of restl ess i ntel l ect who, no l ess than hi s father,
Yi rmi seki z
Qel ebi -zade
Mehmet Efendi . had bl azed
trai l s that l ed westward to Europe and especi al l y to
France. Ahmet' s rei gn was marked by i ndi fferent mi l i -
tary success and he fel t the ti me was ri ght for peace
and change wi thi n the Ottoman state. Thi s change
came i n the form of what mi ght be cal l ed the reform of
Damat Ibrahi m. Young Mri teferri ka smel l ed the new
breezes and sensed i t woul d be possi bl e to further the
cause of cul tural and techni cal openness whi l e advan-
ci ng hi s own career.
Possessi ng no useful pedi gree of hi s own he was
dependent for the advancement of hi s i deas on
patrons. These came i n the form of the
Qel ebi s,
who
had returned from France. thei r heads ful l of i deas for
what has come to be cal l ed
' reform.'
They had the ful l
support of Damat Ibrahi m, pri me mi ni ster to Ahmet
III. From the hazy documentary evi dence we l earn
that Ibrahi m Paga became convi nced that Ottoman
stagnati on was as much a matter of cul tural purbl i nd-
ness as stagnati on i n mi l tary armament or tacti cs.
Ibrahi m Mri teferri ka was ready. In hi s memorandum
dated 1726 to the grand vezi r and the rel i gi ous l eaders
he argued that the pri nti ng press offered numerous
advantages, to wi t: i t woul d preserve books from
destructi on such as occured duri ng Mongol i nvasi ons,
i t woul d pl ace Musl i ms on a par wi th Chri sti ans and
Jews i n preservati on of thei r sacred texts: i t woul d
make books i nvul nerabl e t o mi st akes by copyi st s: i t
woul d extend l earni ng among Musl i ms; i t woul d
spread the abi l i ty to read, si nce books woul d become
affordabl e to everyone; i t woul d remove Chri sti ans
f rom t he busi ness of pri nt i ng I sl ami c books; and
i t woul d make t he Turks t he l eaders of I sl ami c
l earni ng
s.
Hi s arguments found thei r mark. The memorandum
had the support of the Sadrazam and reached the
Sul tan. Opposi ti on though was not l ong i n surfaci ng
taki ng the form, accordi ng to tradi ti onal accounts, of
the book gui l ds protesti ng the sacri l ege of usi ng
a machi ne i n produci ng the word of God and i n
al l owi ng the use of brushes made of pi g bri stl es i n
i nki ng the pl aten. Ri ots and ci vi l unrest ensued,
accordi ng to hi stori ans of the peri od. and Ahmet was
forced to delay permission for the project until agree-
ment was reached that no religious works would be
defiled by the new techniques and tools ofthe innovator.
How the press was at l ast i mported and set i nto
operati on, how pressmen were trai ned, how books
were di stri buted through the school s of Ahmet III' s
successor Mahmut I (r. 1730-1754) are beyond the
scope of thi s paper and i n any case must be subj ects
for future research and anal ysi s. There i s l i ttl e doubt
that Ibrahi m Mri teferri ka, by the ti me hi s fi rst book,
the Van Kulu dictionary, was printed had found his
mti er.
From 1729 untll 1754 the quantity of books and
maps pri nted di d not produce the wi despread accep-
tance of pri nti ng for whi ch he had hoped. Nor di d the
qual i ty of books l ead to a cul tural revol uti on that
woul d have brought the Ottomans abreast of the
Europe of Pri estl ey, Montesqui eu, Vol tai re, Goethe or
Bentham. Ibrahi m wrote and pri nted onl y seventeen
books i n the years between publ i cati on of Van Kul u o
hi s death i n 1754. Anal ysi s of subj ects shows an
emphasi s on hi story and the sci ences. Ti ed as i t was to
the tenuous reforms of the moment, pri nti ng suffered
the fate of the other i nnovati ons of the earl y ei ght-
teenth century, and stopped enti rel y after Mri teferri -
ka' s death. It was as i f what Ni azi Berkes has cal l ed
the fi rst i nventi on di sappeared wi thout a trace. Ibra-
hi m' s gl ory rests not on hi s prowess as a pri nter and
publ i sher, al though he was an adept craftsman whose
books can sti l l be admi red as masterpi eces of desi gn.
but rather i n havi ng argued hi s case masterful l y i n the
counci l s of the Sul tan. Never agai n woul d Musl i m
reformers have to grappl e wi th the probl em of reconci -
l i ng thi s western i nventi on wi th Isl ami c sensi bi l i ti es
regardi ng the handmade book. Thanks to hi m the
debate over the pri nti ng book l eft the real ms of theo-
l ogy to those of l i teracy, economi cs and aestheti cs.
I I
A t urn of t he barrel of t he kal ei doscope reveal s
another i nnovator. one whose l i fe stor.v i s as wel i
documented as Mri teferri ka' s was the contrary. Al i
Mubarak (1823-1893), f at her of what we mi ght cal l t he
mass produced book i n Egypt, was born of a shaykhl y
fami l y i n the Egypti an del ta. Hi s earl y years show that
he coul d have chosen the easy and establ i shed path of
hi s fathers who had been kuttab i nstructors and i mams
i n the l ocal mosques. Mubarak tel l s us i n hi s memoi rs
that thi s was not the l i fe for hi m, and that he actual l y
ran away from home to avoi d thi s fate. If I were to
wri te Mubarak' s bi ography I woul d enti tl e i t
' Al i
Mubarak: An Egypt i an Huckl eberry Fi nn. ' Hi s earl y
years were a seri es of restl ess school l eavi ngs, desul tory
empl oyments as cl erk for mi nor provi nci al offi ci al s,
and even a sti nt i n
j ai l
for steal i ng hi s sal ary from a
mi serl y empi oyer, a l ocal surveyor.
Despi te these i nauspi ci ous begi nni ngs Mubarak had
ambi ti on and a vi si on. He saw that great changes were
t aki ng pl ace i n Egypt . By 1839, at t he age of 16, he
had begun to attach hi s fortunes to the technocracy.
He was admi tted to the Engi neeri ng School i n that
year and from there moved progressi vel y through the
school s and on to the hi ghest l evel s of the Egypti an
admi ni strati on.
It i s as an educator that Mubarak' s i mpact on
pri nti ng hi story i s reveal ed. He hi msel f was the pro-
duct of Muhammad Al i ' s newfangl ed Kasr al -Ayni
school i n whi ch
' they
taught handwri ti ng, mathe-
mati cs, and Turki sh among other thi ngs.' He entered
Kasr al -Ayni , i n whi ch he was very unhappy. i n 1835,
l l 6 MANUSCRI PTS OF THE MI DDLE EAST 5 ( 1990- I 991)
whence he proceeded to the Engi neeri ng School
(Muhandi skhana). At thi s stage we can remark two
i mportant i nfl uences on the teenage l ad. The profes-
sors who made the greatest i mpact on hi m at the
Engi neeri ng School were Egypti ans, and, second, he
and hi s cl assmates were obl i ged to copy thei r l essons
' each
to hi s own abi l i ti es i n fol l owi ng what the
teachers were l ecturi ng on.' He was such a successful
student that he was sel ected for a study mi ssi on to
France i n 1846?. When Abbas come to the throne i n
1849, Mubarak
j oi ned
hi s staff as an engi neeri ng
i nspector wi th di rect access to the Khedi ve on matters
that rel ated to proj ects and the techni cal personnel
responsi bl e for carryi ng them out. In effect, he was the
Khedi ve' s audi tor general for engi neeri ng works.
In 1849, the Frenchman Lambert suggested that
certai n of the school s that were cl osed after Muham-
mad A1i ' s death be reopened. Abbas agreed and
appoi nted Mubarak to supervi se thi s. It was at thi s
poi nt that he made hi s mark on pri nti ng hi story. He
recount s hi s t enure as school admi ni st rat or (nazi r): ' l
took charge of the admi ni strati on of the engi neeri ng
schools (sic)
and their associated affairs. I took charge of
appointing selected teachers. adjusted the curriculum.
and sel ected the necessary books. Al l that was accom-
pl i shed, and duri ng my tenure as na:i r I set out
to wri te textbooks mysel f al ong wi th some of the
teachers. I created a l etterpress and a l i thographi c
press whi ch pri nted around 60,000 copi es of vari ous
books for the War Schools (Madaris Harbt'ah) and
the military units (al-Alyat al-Jihadruh). This was in
addi ti on to the books i n every di sci pl i ne that were
pri nted on the l i thographi c press for the Muhandi s-
khana and the suppl emental pri nti ng such as atl asses,
techni cal drawi ngs and other thi ngs the l i ke of whi ch
had never been pri nted before. I used onl y students to
draw the atl asses and the i l l ustrati ons.' He fol l ows thi s
descri pti on of hi s accompl i shments as textbook author
and pri nter wi th the statement that these duti es di d not
di stract hi m from attendi ng to the feedi ng, cl othi ng
and proper housi ng of the students and watchi ng
careful l y over every aspect of thei r course of study.
Mubarak graduated, as i t were, from the Muhandi s-
khana i n 1853, movi ng on t o more responsi bl e post s.
Hi s remarkabl e achi evement was to mass produce
books for the new school s that were al l owed to ope-
rate under Abbas and hi s successor Muhammad Sa' i d.
Al though Mubarak' s tenure as nzi r of the Muhands-
khana was short, hi s contri buti on was cri ti cal i n kee-
pi ng the pri nti ng of books al i ve i n Egypt duri ng a
peri od when the school system was i n ecl i pse. Further-
more, he contri buted much to the i ntroducti on of
modern techni cal educati on i n Egypt i n the mi d-ni ne-
teenth century. Under Abbas the school system esta-
bl i shed by Muhammad Al i earl i er i n the century was
beset from two di recti ons. One was the Isl ami c
puri tani sm of the Khedi ve hi msel f, who i mmured hi m-
sel f from bureaucrati c and techni cal reform. Second
was the Khedi ve' s parsi mony. Hi s admi ni strati on was
ruled by his dictum
'!-ary'a'
x,a-la-yanfa'?' Is it worth it
or not? If the i nsti tuti on i n questi on di d not measure
up, i t was cl osed. Muhammad Sa' i d. for hi s part, was
a profl i gate spender and puppet fi el d marshal . Muba-
rak was abl e to ti e hi s advancement to the i di osyn-
crasi es of these two very di fferent potentates and
Egypt owes hi m much for preservi ng the techni cal and
educati onal enterpri se that had been cut adri ft after
most of Muhammad Al i ' s school s were cl osed. To
Mubarak and a few other pri nter-educators such as
Husayn Husnr and Ah Jawd at the Bul aq Press goes
the credi t for keepi ng the pri nted book al i ve unti l the
fl orescence of cul ture i n the rei gn of Khedi ve Isma' i l 8.
I I I
If Mi i teferri ka was barred from pri nti ng rel i gi ous
books under the terms of hi s l i cense and Mubarak was
i nterested onl y i n produci ng techni cal works. who was
pri nti ng rel i gi ous texts? Wel l , the Chri sti ans of the
Ottoman Empi re for one. It i s not my i ntenti on here to
recount the begi nni ngs of Isl ami c publ i shi ng i n Istan-
bul i n the l ate ei ghteenth century by Mti teferri ka' s
successors. nor do I want t o l i st t he rel i gi ous works
publ i shed i n Egypt duri ng the rei gn of Muhammad
Al i . A careful study of the record of Khedi ves Abbas
and Muhammad Sa' i d wi l l reveal I t hi nk t hat rel i gi ous
works came to the fore duri ng these rei gns (1849-
1863). For i nstance attempts were made to pri nt the
Qur'an;
the Mathnavr of Rtmr was published in Tur-
ki sh and fourteen works by the 9th century Sui Abrl
al -Mawhi b al -Sha' rnr were publ i shed duri ng thei r
rei gns. Rather, my i ntenti on has been to provi de an
appreci ati on for the compl exi ti es, soci al , ethni c, and
geographi c of the earl y years of pri nti ng. For thi s
reason. l et us turn to the l i fe of an Iraqi Cathol i c
pri est, Y[suf Da' ud, wi thout reference to whose
energy and prodi gi ous output of books our consi dera-
ti on of mi d-ni neteenth century Arabi c pri nti ng woul d
be i ncompl ete.
In the Ottoman Empi re at mi d-century was there a
regi on more remote from the concerns of the geopol i -
ti cal hurl y-burl y than the provi nce of Mosul i n nor-
thern Iraq? The ci ty of Mosul , center of the n' i l ay-ah,
had been governed by a seri es of at best l ackl uster
governors for a century. It was home to ratatoui l l e of
Jews, Sunni Musl i ms, Yazi di s, Kurds, Turkomans,and
Chri sti ans of di vers sects, some uni ate, some not. Into
thi s unprepossessi ng mi l i eu to mi ni ster to the needs of
the uni ate Chri sti ans and wi n over to Rome other
denomi nati ons came the Capuchi ns i n the seventeenth
century, then, i n 1750, the Domi ni cans to open a
mi ssi on school . Here too, i n the vi l l age of al -Ama-
dryah, was born i n 1829 a young man who woul d
make a contri buti on not onl y to hi s church but to
educati on and Arabi c cul ture i n hi s nati ve regi on and
MI CHAEL W. ALBI N. EARLY ARABI C PRI NTI NG
n 1
beyond. Y[suf Da' [d was bapti zed a Syri an Cathol i c
because hi s grandfather had been sl i ghted by the
Chal dean cl ergy. He became a pri est because he fel t he
had a cal l from God to that vocati on. He was ordai ned
i n Rome i n 1855 and remai ned there for further study.
He spent most of t he years bet ween 1855 and 1867 i n
Mosul , al t hough he ret urned t o Rome i n 1865 t o t ake
part i n the Fi rst Vati can Counci l . No l ess than the
Protestant mi ssi onari es operati ng i n Mal ta i n the
1830s and l ater i n Bei rut, he used the Arabi c l anguage
as a vehi cl e to spread the Gospel whi l e spreadi ng
secul ar l earni ng through the mi ssi on school .
By al l accounts Y[suf was a stern cl eri c, rel entl ess
teacher and i ndefati gabl e author. Hi s bi ographer notes
of hi m that he al most si ngl ehandedl y forced the Domi -
ni cans i nto a posi ti on of preemi nence i n the pri nti ng of
Arabi c booksq. The l i st of hi s books and t ransl at i ons
i s l onger t han any I know of at t ri but abl e t o an Arab
author of the ni neteenth century, l onger than al -
Bustnr' s, l onger than al -Shi di q' s. Whi l e i n Mosul he
wrote and transl ated 100 books on numerous subj ects
i n several l anguagesl o. Hi s rel i gi ous wri ti ngs i ncl ude a
transl ati on of the Bi bl e i nto Arabi c publ i shed by the
Domi ni cans bet ween 1871-1877: t t Cat hol i c ri t es of
betrothal and marri age (Mosul 1874): a 426 page
col l ect i on of Arabi c prayers and songs i ncorporat i ng
t he' t rut hs of t he f ai t s; ' a 400 oas. e Pe i r . ' Lbrese de
I' Hi stoi re el e I' Egl i se (Mosul ftl :
j
-,*\ ' -;
L- - <l
- - ; ' j . . . . . . . ) r 2.
I n or her f l el ds he publ i i hed a
t wo vol u= nq Arabrc grammar (Mosul
1869 & 1877
* - FJl - ] r . a! t
' 3
dl i . r k . . . . . .
) 13.
a gr ammar of
Aramean and i t s cognat es. S-vri ac and Chal dean al ong
wi th a compari son to Hebrew. Arabi c. and Babyl o-
ni an, al l of whi ch was accompani ed by a
' bri ef
hi story
of t he Aramean l anguage. scri pt and l i t erat ure' ra. He
was the author of el ements of ari thmeti c publ i shed by
the Domi ni cans i n 1865 i n 300 pages. In the fi el d of
Arabi c l etters Fr. Y[suf prepared an edi ti on of Kal i l a
wa-Di mna i n 1869, wi t h a second edi t i on i n 1876 and a
t hi rd i n 1883. He al so compi l ed col l ect i ons of readi ngs
from the Arabi c cl assi cs for students i ncl udi ng the
fabl es and sayi ngs of Luqmn.
Yfi suf Da' [d was not hi msel f a pri nter. After he had
compl eted hi s trai ni ng at the Propaganda i n Rome he
returned to Mosul for pastoral and teachi ng duti es. As
the l i st of hi s i nterests cl earl y shows. he suppl i ed a
steady stream of manuscri pts and revi si ons to the
press of the Domi ni cans i n Mosul , wi th whom he
worked as author, transl ator and correctorl s. It i s fai r
to say that Fr. Yusuf was the pri nci pal suppl i er of texts
to the press. The Domi ni can press was establ i shed by
Fr. Hyacynth Besson i n 1856-57 and conti nued under
the di recti on of Domi ni can cl eri cs for nearl y si xty
years. The fi rst books to come from the press were
pri nted
' on
an ol d and pri mi ti ve basi s,' that i s, on a
l i t hographi c pressr. Besson and hi s superi or repl aced
thi s machi nery i n 1860 wi th a typographi c press from
Pari s. At vari ous ti mes i n the earl y vears of nri nti ns
the Domi ni cans had techni cal hel p from the Jesui ts i n
Lebanon. the Franci scans i n Jerusal em. the Lazari sts
i n Iran and even the Protestants i n Bei rut. who sol d
them the types they used i n Fr. Yl sufs transl ati on of
t he Bi bl el ?. Thi s t ransl at i on and pri nt i ng proj ect i l l u-
strates the associ ati on between Yusuf Da' [d and the
press. I n 1868. Cardi nal Luci ano Bonapart e i n France
wrote to Fr. Li on i n Mosul that the Eastern Cathol i cs
had no Arabi c Bi bl e and suggested that the Domi ni -
cans prepare a t ransl at i on at hi s (Bonapart e' s)
expense. I n 1870, Li on' set up a press t hat pri nt ed bol d
l et t ers (huruJ' bari zah)' and i n l 87l t he press super-
i ntendent travel ed to Bei rut where he acqui red types
t hat had been used by t he Prot est ant s. I n a report on
the proj ect that appeared i n L' Anne Donti rti t.ai nne
(si c) i n 1873 i t was recount ed t hat a Domi ni can pri est
was di rect i ng t he press and t hat a Brot her Brun (si c)
was responsi bl e f or t he
' bol d
l et t ers' . There were f our
ordi nary workers at t he press. and i n t he bi ndery one
Domi ni can brot her was assi st ed by one workman. I n
mi d-1872 t hey accompl i shed t wo pri nt i ngs of t he New
Test ament wi t h comment s or expl anat i ons, one i n
octavo and the other i n a smal l er si ze. Thi s rvas the
fi rst stage of the proj ect as di rected and fi nanced by
t he Cardi nal . The t ransl at i on had been done by Yusuf
Da' [ d wi t h t he hel p of Behnam Benni ( 1831- 1897) .
u' ho l at er became Cat hol i c bi shop of Mosul . Corres-
pondence l rom Fr. Duval i n Mosul t o Pari s i n 1875
gi res t he f ol l oui ng det ai l s concerni ng press admi ni -
st rat i on.
' Ti l o
Domi ni cans devot e al i t hei r ef f ort s t o
t he press as t hei r pri marl mi ssi on. One i s i n charge of
hand workmen and t he ot her of t echni cal workmen. A
Domi ni can brot her i s occupi ed vi t h huri : pri nt i ng
(rel i ef pri nt i ng or engrari ng' ?). There i s one t ransl at or
at t he press, a copyi st and a correct or.
[ There
i s] one
supervi sor of the workers. Three workers do the
composi ng (saff al -huri l fl and typesetti ng (tartb wa-
tanzm). One founder (sani ) and a workman take care
of the press. At the bi ndery there are one Domi ni can
pri est and two workers. The annual wages of the
workers come to FR 4.500.' The l etter conti nued.
' We
have to i mport l rom abroad the paper and everythi ng
needed for engravi ng (hari :) and casti ng type, so the
[annual ]
expendi ture i s FR 12,000. We hope to fi ni sh
the Ol d Testament thi s year and we wi l l do a second
pri nti ng of the Gospel s, because we di stri buted the
fi rst one wi thout charge as Cardi nal Bonaparte wi shed,
and i t i s now out of stock. We al so hope to fi ni sh the
Li ves o.f the Sai nts. The fi rst part, coveri ng the fi rst si x
mont hs of t he year, i s compl et ers. We pri nt ed t he
Bi bl e, that i s, the Ol d Testament, i n 1,000 copi es' 1e.
The Domi ni can press i n Mosul , ti ed as i t was to
pedagogi cal and pastoral mi ssi ons, devel oped the fi rst
sustai ned pri nti ng i n the Iraqi provi nces of the Otto-
man Empi re. Bet ween 1856 and 1885 t he Domi ni cans
pri nted 6l Arabi c books, ten books i n Chal dean, ei ght
i n Syri ac, and fourteen i n French20.
Li ttl e or no attenti on has been
pai d
to thi s vi tal
MANUSCRI PTS OF THE MI DDLE EAST 5 ( I 990- 199I ) 1 1 8
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Col ophon of the Turki sh transl ati on of Jawhan' s
$i l l tAft,
known as the
Van Kulu Dictionary, the first book from Miiteferrika's press in Istanbul,
1729. Slightly reduced (original size 22.5 x 34cm). (Library of Congress)
acti vi ty, nei ther to the contri buti ons of Yfi suf Da' [d to
Arabi c l etters nor to the techni cal contri buti ons of the
Domi ni cans i n bri ngi ng the press to the northern
regi ons of Iraq on the Ri ver Ti gri s. Yl suf Da' ud had
hi s Iraqi col l eagues Ignati us l fram Rahmani , Ji rj i s
Abd al -Yashu' Khayyat and Behnem Benni , al l of
whom became prel ates of the Church before the cen-
tury ended, were the fi rst modern patri archs of thei r
country. They were, fi rst of al l , wri ti ng for pri nt and
thi s i mpl i ed a l i terate l ai ty. For the fi rst ti me i n the
hi story of the Church i n the East i t was expected that
the rank-in-file could read the Scripture and devotional
books. The press made these works avai l abl e i n the
quotidien language of most Iraqi Catholics: Arabic.
Promul gati ng these texts as Fr. Y[suf di d demysti fi ed
both the books themsel ves and l i turgi cal events for
uni ate Chri sti ans and hel ped beat the Protestants at
their own game
--
making the faith accessible to the
fai thful . Thi s was the i ntenti on of Cardi nal Bonaparte
i n maki ng the Bi bl e avai l abl e i n Arabi c, thi s was the
purpose of Fr. Yusuf and hi s Iraqi and French com-
pani ons at the Domi ni can school and the other school s
MICHAEL W. ALBIN, EARLY ARABIC PRINTING 1 1 9
i n Mosul . Moreover, Y[suf Da' [d and the French
Domi ni cans used the press to i ncrease the accessi bi l i ty
of Iraqi Chri sti ans to secul ar or useful knowl edge:
mathemati cs, the sci ences, hi story, geography and
l i terature. Here too the pri nti ng press pl ayed a key rol e
as mediator between the new subjects and the new
pupi l s, boys and gi rl s, bei ng devel oped i n the school s.
These pupi l s were the fi rst Iraqi s to recei ve a modern
educati on. As for Mosul i tsel f, the government took
but mi ni mal responsi bi l i ty for educati on. Through the
1880s there remai ned onl y one school at pri mary l evel
(ibtida') and one for older boys (rushdl whose books
were i mported ei ther from Istanbul or Baghdad or, i n
the non-rel i gi ous subj ects, probabl y purchased from
the Domi ni cans. Thus the i mpact of the wri ti ngs and
exampl e of Y[suf Da' ud went far beyond the Cathol i c
communi ty of Mosul and i ts surroundi ng vi l l ages.
By 1879, when he l ef t Mosul t o become bi shop of
Damascus, he l eft an i mpressi on on hi s nati ve town
that coul d have been possi bl e onl y wi th the pri nti ng
press. Yl suf Da' [ d di ed i n 1890; t he Domi nt can press
survi ved unti l property and equi pment were taken by
t he government i n 1914.
IV
The year i s 1856, the year i n whi ch Fr. Besson
arri ved i n Mosul and determi ned that the Domi ni cans
needed a pri nti ng press to carry out thei r mi ssi on i n
Iraq, but the pl ace i s Tuni s, at the other end of the
Arab worl d f rom Mosul . I n t hat year Lui gi Cal l i gari s
(1808-1871), an I t al i an mi l i t ary of f i cer l i vi ng i n ret i re-
ment from a career as a di gni fi ed sol di er of fortune.
wrote an anonymous memorandum to the Tuni si an
authori ti es proposi ng that the government l i ft i ts ban
on t he pri nt i ng of books2l . I t i s pret t y cert ai n t hat
Cal l i gari s had hi msel f i n mi nd for di rector of the
enterpri se.
Lui gi Cal l i gari s had begun hi s Mi deastern pere-
gri nati ons as an offi cer and ori ental i st at the age of 2l
i n Istanbul i n 1829. Before comi ng to resi de i n Tuni s,
he had l i ved i n Syri a, where he began hi s study of
Arabi c, a l anguage he mastered wel l enough to trans-
la|e L'Histoire des Guerres de l{apolon (Paris: Impri-
meri e i mpri al e, 1856) and end hi s career as professor
of Arabi c at the Uni versi ty of Turi n.
The l etter i n questi on was di scovered i n the Tuni si an
Archi ves and casts certai n useful l i ght on the cul ture of
Tuni si a at mi d-century. The anonymous Arabi c docu-
ment i s enti tl ed
' Letter
on the Uti l i ty of Establ i shi ng a
Press f or Arabi c Books i n Tuni s' (. . . . i "J".
d
oJ| -;
_/
ur4.
Lt l l : r
t -b, Ll Jl . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Nei ther the wri ter nor the reci pi ent i s named i n the
document, but research by Andre Demeerseman shows
that the author can be none other than Luigi Calligaris,
the reti red di rector of the Tuni si an mi l i tary school at
the Bardo. The same hi stori an supposes that the
addressee i s ei ther the wel l -known statesman Khayr al -
Di n Pasha or the General Hussayn, a hi gh offi ci al of
government and an al umnus of the Bardo.
In openi ng thi s paper I menti oned that Ibrahi m
Mi .i teferri ka' s supreme achi evement was the argument
he put forward i n favor of the press and the advanta-
ges that woul d accrue to Musl i m governments who
saw fi t to put i t to use. Nowhere i s the echo of
Mi i teferri ka' s argument cl earer than i n thi s anony-
mous l etter wri tten nearl y 130 years l ater. It i s certai nl y
i mportant from the vi ewpoi nt of thi s paper that a
forei gner, and a non-Musl i m at that, chose to enter the
debate on thi s once-sensi ti ve i ssue. It shows for one
thi ng that the sensi ti vi ti es had di ssi pated, and an
outsi der coul d state the case to reform-mi nded Mus-
l i ms wi thout l ear of vi ol ati ng taboos. It may be that
onl y a forei gner coul d have done so wi th a cl ear i dea of
the contemporary ci rcumstances of the country and
the advantages that woul d fol l ow from a change i n
pol i cy. One has onl y to compare the bri sk and to-the-
poi nt suggesti ons of the l etter wri ter wi th the l ater
essay of Khayr al -Di n . who fel t he had to mount an
apol ogeti c for the enti re reform movement i n hi s 1867
essay Aqwam al-Masalik
fi
Ma'rifat Ahwal al-Mama-
lik22. To sense the difference in tone between the
forei gner' s vi ew and the i nsi der' s. Our anonymous
correspondent fel t no need for such a testament. He
had merel y to pi que the sense of shame i n government
offi ci al s that Chri sti an countri es of Europe saw fi t to
pri nt Arabi c cl assi cs such as l he Maqamal of al -Harrrr
and adverti ze thei r avai l abi l i ty to the Arab reader from
booksel l ers i n Pari sl
Wi t h European f ort hri ght ness t he epi st oi i st pro-
ceeds t o appeal t o t he cupi di t y of hi s correspondent .
Setti ng up a press, he says.
' woul d
be a great boon to
the state for i t woul d i ncrease revenues by a mi l l i on
ri al s per year, or perhaps more, and a l arge group of
peopl e woul d make thei r l i vi ng from i t.' Rare books
coul d be pri nted and sol d i n al l the ci ti es of Isi am and
i n Europe as wel l . He reckons that the press coul d sel l
1.000 to 2,000 copi es of each ti tl e for at l east 30 ri al s
the vol ume, whi l e the cost to produce the books woul d
be ten ri al s or l ess. Then he turns from the fi nanci al
aspects to the economi cs of publ i shi ng, sayi ng,
' The
reason a copy need cost about ten ri al s i s that i n
pri nti ng books we have al ready set the type of a si ngl e
ki nd and can then pri nt 100,000 copi es of i t
[the
book].' He refers to hi s own transl ati on i nto Arabi c of
Tabb Nafsa (si c)
' Sel f-Doctori ng' ,
whi ch i f i t were
properl y di stri buted woul d sel l thousands of copi es i n
the Isl ami c countri es and he even esti mates a sal e of
4,000 copi es i n Europe,
' not
because of i ts own meri t
... but for use as a means of l earni ng Arabi c by
compari son wi th the ori gi nal , whi ch they
[the
students]
have i n thei r own l anguages.'
On the cul tural contri buti ons the press can make he
has thi s to say,
' Al l
the val uabl e books of whi ch not a
si ngl e copy i s found i n a gi ven ci ty
[mi ght
be pri nted].
120 MANUSCRI PTS OF THE MI DDLE EAST 5 ( I 990- 199I )
Bible translated into Arabic by Ytsuf D'[d and printed at the
Domi ni can Press, Mosul , i n 1875. (Cathol i c Uni versi ty of Ameri ca)
For exampl e, there are the hi story books and number-
l ess other books. Peopl e woul d buy them at a l ow pri ce
and benefi t from thei r havi ng been brought to l i fe
agai n and from thei r wi de di stri buti on. Knowl edge
woul d spread i n the worl d. We coul d transl ate i nto
Arabi c certai n of the Chri sti ans' books whi ch treat
sci ence and i ndustry so that Isl am coul d profi t from
t hem. '
As to the famous obj ecti on to the pri nti ng press that
i t woul d put cal l i graphers out of work, our wri ter
u,r:itr1
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ri}l
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*.'r."'lL
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iil
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o
i
_n
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i Yr
;
MI CHAEL W. ALBI N. EARLY ARABI C PRI NTI NG
:-:;Fa-ar_
Engravi ng of l ocomoti ve from vol . 2 of Ktah Husn al -Sant' ah ' Il m
al -Tabt' ah, an
engi neeri ng textbook pri nted a. the Muhandi skhana Press. Cai ro i n 1270r1853-54.
Reduced
( or i ei nal
si ze 21. 5 x 32cm) .
( Aut hor ' s col l ect i on)
t2l
.-;lr.._<
states fl atl y that the press woul d empl oy more peopl e
than the manuscri pt i ndustry does at present. He
esti mates that there are fi fty to si xty copyi sts i n Tuni s.
These coul d easi l y be absorbed i nto a busy press,
where the work woul d be more heal thy
' for
there
woul d be more movement of the body. whi ch i s the
opposi te of thei r current occupati on.'
The wri ter touches on a few other poi nts before
concl udi ng that the government shoul d establ i sh a
press and send hi m to Pari s to buy machi nery and
epui pment and to order types cut especi al l y for a
Tuni si an press. In any case, the type faces woul d have
to be ori ental i n desi gn because
' books
wri tten i n
maghrebt are not read i n the l ands of the East, not i n
Turkey or Iran, because thei r i nhabi tants are not
fami l i ar wi th them
[the
characters].'
Thi s i s the proposal that, but for i eavi ng asi de the
theol ogi cal arguments, coul d have been composed by
Mi .i teferri ka i n the 1720s. Di d the l etter have the
desi red i mpact? Inasmuch as Cal l i gari s was never
hi red for the press when i t was establ i shed i n 1860, the
answer must be no. I t i s unl i kel y t hat i t had any
i mmedi ate i mpact on the government' s deci si on of
1860 to move away from dependency on the l i tho-
grapi c press and open a typographi c pl ant23. At that
ti me the press was gi ven as a concessi on to another
forei gner, the Engl i shman Ri chard Hol t. who was
l i censed to pri nt the newspapher al -Ra' i cl al -Tuni sr. Brt
Cal l i gari s' s arguments may have gi ven one or the other
of the reformers further reasons to favor the typogra-
phi c press. Certai nl y typographi c pri nti ng was hi gh on
the reformers' agenda. Ten years after the anonymous
l et t er uas wri t t en. Khal ' r al -Di n woul d wri t e:
' Then
i n
t he mi ddl e of t he f i i eent h cent url - . . . Gut enberg f rom
Marnz i n Germany i nvent ed t he pri nt i ng of books t hus
i ncreasi ng. so obvi ousl y as t o need no demonst rat i on.
the materi al s of the sci ences and hasteni ng thei r di sse-
mi nat i on i n al l count ri es . . . Then ci vi l i zat i on began t o
f l ouri sh i n pat hs of t he sci ences and t he craf t s' 24.
In concl usi on I shoul d repeat that I have not set out
to prove a thesi s about thi s or that fact regardi ng the
story of the earl i est pri nti ng i n the Isl ami c worl d. The
history of printing is filled with such Guiness Book of
Records data. Instead, I have tried to give the flavor of
the l i fe and ti mes of some of the pi oneers of pri nti ng.
because the men I have menti oned are those who
i ntroduced the modern, Western worl d i nto the very
heart to the Musl i m East. Thei r atti tudes are cri ti cal i n
the changes that have shaken the Isl ami c worl d i n the
past 200 years. I hope I have in some measure succeeded
i n presenti ng what I promi sed i n the ti tl e: a catal ogue
of atti tudes.
122 MANUSCRI PTS OF THE MI DDLE EAST 5 ( I 990- 199I )
Norrs
t
A few exampl es of the margi nal i ty of pri nti ng i n
Western hi stori ography come to mi nd. In chronol ogi cal
order of publication they are Philip K. Hitti. Historl' o.l' the
Arabs. Carl Brockelmann. History of the Islanric Peoples.
and Marshal l G.S. Hodgson. The Venture o.l ' Lsl am.
2
Some exampl es of these are Jaml al -Di n al -ShayyI.
Ta'rtkh al-Tarjamah v'a-ol-Harakah al-Thaqafir,uh
/i
Asr
Muhammod Ah, Cai r o. 1951; Ab[ Fut l h Ri dwn. Ta' r t kh
Matba'at Billdq, Cairo 1953; Jaafar Majed, La Presse Litt-
rai re en Tuni si e de 1904-1955, Tuni s, 1979; and Behnam
F. Afas, Ta' rtkh al -Ti ba' ah wa-ul -Matbu' at al -' Iraqtvuh^
Baghdad. 1985.
3
Thomas F. Carter. The Inventi on o.f Pri ntng n Chi na
and l ts Spread Westv' ard.2nd ed. New York: Ronal d Press.
1955, p. 153.
a
Niyazi Berkes in The Developntent oJ Seculuri.sm in
Turkey (Montreal : McGi l l Uni v. Pr., 1964) credi ts Mri tefer-
r i ka wi t h
' t he
f i r st i nnovat i on' . t hat i s. t he i nt r oduct i on of
the press whi ch l aunched the reform movement under Mah-
mut II. The di scussi on i n Stanford J. Shau"s Hi story o' the
Ottoman Entpi re and Mocl ern Turke-t' (Cambri dge: Cam-
br i dge Uni v. Pr . . 1976) i s al so usef ul f or t r eat ment i n
Engl i sh of thi s i mportant personal i ty. whose work Shaw
terms
' perhaps
the most outstandi ng l egacy of the Tul i p
Per i od. '
s
Berkes. op. t' t.. p. 39-40.

Ali Mubarak. Al-Khitat al-TaxJiqrrah al-Jatfidah.
Cai r o. 1887- 9, vol . 9. pp. 36- 61.
r
J. Heyworth-Dunne. An Inroducti on o | rc Hi sor.t' of
Educat on i n Moder n Egypt . London: Luzac. 1938. p. 249f .
8
Pri nti ng and educati on duri ng thi s peri od are di scussed
i n t he aut hor ' s
' The
Sur vi val of t he Bul aq Pr ess under
Abbas and Sai d ( 1848- 63) ' t n Bul l et i n of t he I nt er nat i onal
Associ at i on of Or i ent al i st Li br ar i ans. no. 30- 31 ( 1987) .
e
Suhayl
Qasa.
' Mat r n
Aql mus Y[ suf D' [ d. 1829-
1890' i n Bar n ol - l i ahr ayn. 33 ( 1981) , p. 104 . I have r el i ed
on thi s arti cl e for bi ographi cal detai l s and some bi bl i ogra-
phi c i nformati on. Another bi ography i s that by Behnam
Afas, Aqlrmus Yusul Da'ud; Ra'd min Ruv'ad al-Fikr
J
al-
' Iraq,
1829-1890. Baghdad: al -Adi b al -Baghdadi yah. 1985.
1o
op. ci t.
Qasa.
pp 122-127.
"
Mi chael W. Al bi n.' Prel i mi nary Bi bl i ography of Arabi c
Books Printed by the Dominican Fathers in Mosul' in Mlan'
ges de I'lnstitut Domincain d'Etudes Orientales (MIDEO) 16
( 1983) , p. 250.
12
Mukhtasur ul-Mukhtasar
.fi
Tawartkh
ql-Kant.sah.
r3
KitAh al-Tamrinah
.
al-Lisil al-l,{ahv'ty'ah.
' a
Mosul 1876.
r s
Qasa,
op. c t . , p. 105.
1
Suhay l
Qas a. ' Mat ba' at
at - ba' a1- Dumi ni k n
bi l - Mawsi l wa- t ur t huh al - t haq i : 1858- 1914' i n Buvn
al -Nahra;n 1977. p. 55.
t 1
bi d. p. 60.
18
Al bi n. op. ci t . . p. 259.
te
Thi s account comes from the Arabi c transl ati on of the
document s as f ound i n
Qasa
' Mat ba' at
. . . ' op. r ' i t . p. 60f .
2o
Catalogue des Lirres Imprims che: les Pres Domini-
cai ns de Mossoul , n.p.. 1885.
2r
The text of the l etter i s reproduced and ful l y di scussed
i n Andr Demeerseman.
' Une
Page Nouvel l e de I' Hi stoi re
de l ' I mpr i mer i e en Tuni si e' i n I BLA Ret ue. l 9: 3 ( 1956) .
pp.275-312. Hi s concl usi ons are rati fi ed i n the doctoral
di ssertati on of Moncef Chenoufi . Le Prohl nre des Ori gi nes
de I'Imprinterie e de la Presse Arahe en Tuni.sie dan.s su
Rel aton avec l a Renai ssant' e
' Nahtl u' .
Uni r' . de Li l l e III.
191 4.
::
Leon Carl Brown. The Surest Path: The Pol i ti cal
Treoi.tt' ol u liineteenth Century Mu.slint Suesntun. Cam-
br i dge. Mass. . Har vt i r d Uni r ' . Cent er f or Mi ddl e East er n
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Accor di ng t o Chenou i
( op. t ' i t . . p. 93) a gover nment al
l i t hogr aphi c pr ess began oper nt i on i n 18, 17.
: a
Br own. op. t ' i t . .
p. 139.