Arabic-L:LIT:Arabic Writing and Printing Response

Fri Nov 23 23:07:01 UTC 2001

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Arabic-L: Fri 23 Nov 2001
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
[To post messages to the list, send them to arabic-l at byu.edu]
[To unsubscribe, send message to listserv at byu.edu with first line reading:
           unsubscribe arabic-l                                      ]

-------------------------Directory-------------------------------------

1) Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response
2) Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response

-------------------------Messages--------------------------------------
1)
Date:  23 Nov 2001
From: DLNewman <d.newman at planetinternet.be>
Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response

Hello,

- In Gutenberg's day (first half of 15th century), there was no Arabic
printing anywhere in the world.
- Arabic typeset books were first produced on a large scale as from the
second quarter of the 19th century (mainly in Egypt and the Levant).
- Arabic typeset printing was born in Europe, in Fano (Italy) where a press
was set up by order of Pope Julius II in 1514; the oldest extant text is a
book of Christian prayers ('Kitab Salaat al-sawa'i"). The first Arabic press
to produce a series of books was the Medici press (Typographia Medicea
linguarum externarum) - named after Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici -, which
became operational in 1585. See A. Tinto (1987): La typografia medicea
orientale, Lucca; Josée Balagna (1984): L'imprimerie arabe en Occident (XVI,
XVII et XVIII siècles), Paris; Bonola Bey (1909): "Note sur l'origine de la
première imprimerie arabe en Europe", Bulletin de l'Institut français
d'Egypte, 5è série, III:1.
- The first Arabic printing press in a Muslim country was set up in Aleppo
(1702), though the St Antony monastery in Qazhayya (Lebanon) already had a
Syriac press in 1610 (the only output was an Arabic psalter printed in
Syriac characters - the so-called 'Garshuunii'). The Aleppo press was
followed by others in al-Shuwayr (Lebanon), in 1734, and Beirut (1751).
See J.Nasrallah (1958): "L'imprimerie au Liban", Beirut; Khalil Sabat
(1958): "Tarikh al-Tiba'a fi 'l-sharq al-'Arabi", Cairo; Encyclopaedia of
Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. "Matba'a" (G. Oman/Günay Alpay Kut), "Djarida" (B.
Lewis-Ch. Pellat/P.M. Holt/P. Hitti).
- In Turkey, the first Arabic press was set up in 1727. See W. Heinz in
Wiener Zeitschrift der Kunde des Morgenlandes (WZKM), 61, 1967, pp. 68ff.;
G. Weil (1907): "Die ersten Drücke der Türken", Zentralblatt für
Bibliothekwesen, 24, pp. 49-61; Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed., s.v.
"Ibrahim Müteferriqa" (Niyazi Berkes).
- In Egypt the first Arabic presses arrived with Napoleon's invasion force.
In 1822, Muhammad Ali set up a printing press at Bulaq. See Encyclopaedia of
Islam, s.v. "Bulaq" (J. Jomier); A. Ridwan (1953): Tarikh matba'at Bulaq wa
lamha 'an tarikh al-tiba'a fi buldan al-sharq al-awsat, Cairo. For the early
output of the Bulaq press, see J. T. Reinaud in Journal Asiatique, 2è série,
VIII, 1831, pp. 333-44; T. X. Bianchi in Journal Asiatique, iv: 2è série,
1843, pp. 24-60. On printing and presses during the French occupation, see
A. Wassef (1975): L'information et la presse officielle en Egypte jusqu'à la
fin de l'occupation française, Cairo.
- In Algeria, the first lithographed Arabic characters were used for the
bilingual newspaper 'Le Moniteur algérien" in January 1832, with typography
being introduced on 28 July of that year (No. 26). See A. Merad, "La
formation de la presse musulmane en Algérie", IBLA, 105, pp. 10-11;
Christiane Souriau-Hoebrechts (1975), "La presse maghrébine.
Libye-Tunisie-Maroc-Algérie, Paris.
- In Morocco: lithography was introduced in the mid-1860s (Meknès, Fès). The
first book was "al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya" by the 9th-century scholar
al-Tirmidhi. See M. Mannuni (1965): "al-Tibaa'a al-hajariyya al-Fasiyya",
Titwaan, X, pp. 132-75; G. Ayach (1964): "L'apparition de l'imprimerie au
Maroc", Hespéris-Tamuda, V, pp. 143-61; E. Lévi-Provençal (1921): "Essai de
répertoire chronolique des éditions de Fès", Revue Africaine, pp. 158ff.
- In Tunisia, Arabic typography was first used in 1860; the first book to be
printed was a military manual entitled 'al-Misbah al-musfir fi tartib
al-'askar' (February 1860, 32pp.), whereas the first issue of the official
Gazette, 'al-Raa'id al-Tunisi', came off the press in July (22/4 Muharram
1266) of that year. However, the first lithographed Arabic book had appeared
in the country in 1849; it was the Arabic translation of a theological work
written by a French priest by the name of François Bourgade (who had also
set up the press) and was entitled "al-Muhawara al-ula bayn al-ukht
al-fadila wa 'l-mufti fi 'l-farq bayn al-mar'a al-Nasraniyya wa 'l-muslima
wa munazara fi 'l-Injil" ('First dialogue between the venerable Sister and
the Mufti on the difference between the Christian and Muslim women and an
exchange of views on the Gospel'), the second part of which ("al-Kitab
althani min musaamaraat Qartajanna") appeared in the same year. The original
French text was entitled "Les Soirées de Carthage, ou dialogues entre un
prêtre catholique, un muphti et un cadi" (Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1847,
192pp.). The first official lithograph press was set up in 1857, with the
'Fundamental Pact' ('al-'ahd al-aman') being the first product. See M.
Chenoufi (1974): Le problème des origines de l'imprimerie et de la prese
arabes en Tunisie dans sa relation avec la Renaissance 'Nahda' (1847-1887),
2 vols, Lille.
It is interesting to note that in many Muslim countries (except for Tunisia
and Morocco), lithography was introduced AFTER typeset printing: e.g. Turkey
(1803), Persia (1828), Egypt (1838).
- In Libya, the first Arabic typeset text (the first issue of the offical
Gazette, "Tarabulus al-Gharb") was printed in 1866 in Tripoli.

I hope this is of some use to you.

With kind regards,

Daniel Newman

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2)
Date:  23 Nov 2001
From: "Henry C. Farrell" <charfar at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response

  To Christina and interested others--

George Saliba in his short 1999 book, Rethinking the Roots of Modern
Science, refers to the first Arabic press in 1514 in Fano on the
Western shore of the Adriatic.  He then builds the case for European
desire for Arabic language astronomical works as being one motivation
for the the press. Evidently this press actually produced books.

It's my impression that Arabic presses have been used to produce
newspapers and books for a long time, but that calligraphy has also
been used until very recent times.  Richard Reeves in his 1984 book,
Passage to Peshawar, gives a short discription of the process used in
one newpaper office.  Calligraphers wrote the beautiful Arabic script
onto column wide transparent sheets which were pasted up and
photographed to make the printing plates.  Perhaps some of members of
the list could say more about when typeset printing became "the norm".

It seems that many text books for young beginning readers in Arabic
speaking countries are produced using hand calligraphy (and, for
example, Bedwiy's series of books for Arabic as a second language
teaching has a first year book in calligraphy and following books are
typeset). Could it be that the reason for this is that calligraphy is
easier for inexperienced Arabic readers to read? Perhaps members of
the list with experience in this field can comment.

Charlotte Farrell
fmr student of Arabic
Charfar at worldnet.att.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Arabic-L:  23 Nov 2001
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/arabic-l/attachments/20011123/f2b61714/attachment.htm>