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Arabic-L: Fri 23 Nov 2001<br>
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<div>1) Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response</div>
<div>2) Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response</div>
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<div>1)<br>
Date: 23 Nov 2001<br>
From: DLNewman <d.newman@planetinternet.be><br>
Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response</div>
<div><br>
Hello,<br>
<br>
- In Gutenberg's day (first half of 15th century), there was no
Arabic<br>
printing anywhere in the world.<br>
- Arabic typeset books were first produced on a large scale as from
the<br>
second quarter of the 19th century (mainly in Egypt and the
Levant).<br>
- Arabic typeset printing was born in Europe, in Fano (Italy) where a
press<br>
was set up by order of Pope Julius II in 1514; the oldest extant text
is a<br>
book of Christian prayers ('Kitab Salaat al-sawa'i"). The first
Arabic press<br>
to produce a series of books was the Medici press (Typographia
Medicea<br>
linguarum externarum) - named after Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici -,
which<br>
became operational in 1585. See A. Tinto (1987): La typografia
medicea<br>
orientale, Lucca; Josée Balagna (1984): L'imprimerie arabe en
Occident (XVI,<br>
XVII et XVIII siècles), Paris; Bonola Bey (1909): "Note sur
l'origine de la<br>
première imprimerie arabe en Europe", Bulletin de l'Institut
français<br>
d'Egypte, 5è série, III:1.<br>
- The first Arabic printing press in a Muslim country was set up in
Aleppo<br>
(1702), though the St Antony monastery in Qazhayya (Lebanon) already
had a<br>
Syriac press in 1610 (the only output was an Arabic psalter printed
in<br>
Syriac characters - the so-called 'Garshuunii'). The Aleppo press
was<br>
followed by others in al-Shuwayr (Lebanon), in 1734, and Beirut
(1751).<br>
See J.Nasrallah (1958): "L'imprimerie au Liban", Beirut;
Khalil Sabat<br>
(1958): "Tarikh al-Tiba'a fi 'l-sharq al-'Arabi", Cairo;
Encyclopaedia of<br>
Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. "Matba'a" (G. Oman/Günay Alpay Kut),
"Djarida" (B.<br>
Lewis-Ch. Pellat/P.M. Holt/P. Hitti).<br>
- In Turkey, the first Arabic press was set up in 1727. See W. Heinz
in<br>
Wiener Zeitschrift der Kunde des Morgenlandes (WZKM), 61, 1967, pp.
68ff.;<br>
G. Weil (1907): "Die ersten Drücke der Türken",
Zentralblatt für<br>
Bibliothekwesen, 24, pp. 49-61; Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed.,
s.v.<br>
"Ibrahim Müteferriqa" (Niyazi Berkes).<br>
- In Egypt the first Arabic presses arrived with Napoleon's invasion
force.<br>
In 1822, Muhammad Ali set up a printing press at Bulaq. See
Encyclopaedia of<br>
Islam, s.v. "Bulaq" (J. Jomier); A. Ridwan (1953): Tarikh
matba'at Bulaq wa<br>
lamha 'an tarikh al-tiba'a fi buldan al-sharq al-awsat, Cairo. For the
early</div>
<div>output of the Bulaq press, see J. T. Reinaud in Journal
Asiatique, 2è série,</div>
<div>VIII, 1831, pp. 333-44; T. X. Bianchi in Journal Asiatique, iv:
2è série,<br>
1843, pp. 24-60. On printing and presses during the French occupation,
see<br>
A. Wassef (1975): L'information et la presse officielle en Egypte
jusqu'à la<br>
fin de l'occupation française, Cairo.<br>
- In Algeria, the first lithographed Arabic characters were used for
the<br>
bilingual newspaper 'Le Moniteur algérien" in January 1832,
with typography<br>
being introduced on 28 July of that year (No. 26). See A. Merad,
"La<br>
formation de la presse musulmane en Algérie", IBLA, 105, pp.
10-11;<br>
Christiane Souriau-Hoebrechts (1975), "La presse
maghrébine.<br>
Libye-Tunisie-Maroc-Algérie, Paris.<br>
- In Morocco: lithography was introduced in the mid-1860s (Meknès,
Fès). The<br>
first book was "al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyya" by the
9th-century scholar<br>
al-Tirmidhi. See M. Mannuni (1965): "al-Tibaa'a al-hajariyya
al-Fasiyya",<br>
Titwaan, X, pp. 132-75; G. Ayach (1964): "L'apparition de
l'imprimerie au</div>
<div>Maroc", Hespéris-Tamuda, V, pp. 143-61; E.
Lévi-Provençal (1921): "Essai de</div>
<div>répertoire chronolique des éditions de Fès", Revue
Africaine, pp. 158ff.<br>
- In Tunisia, Arabic typography was first used in 1860; the first book
to be<br>
printed was a military manual entitled 'al-Misbah al-musfir fi
tartib<br>
al-'askar' (February 1860, 32pp.), whereas the first issue of the
official<br>
Gazette, 'al-Raa'id al-Tunisi', came off the press in July (22/4
Muharram<br>
1266) of that year. However, the first lithographed Arabic book had
appeared<br>
in the country in 1849; it was the Arabic translation of a theological
work<br>
written by a French priest by the name of François Bourgade (who had
also<br>
set up the press) and was entitled "al-Muhawara al-ula bayn
al-ukht<br>
al-fadila wa 'l-mufti fi 'l-farq bayn al-mar'a al-Nasraniyya wa
'l-muslima<br>
wa munazara fi 'l-Injil" ('First dialogue between the venerable
Sister and<br>
the Mufti on the difference between the Christian and Muslim women and
an<br>
exchange of views on the Gospel'), the second part of which
("al-Kitab<br>
althani min musaamaraat Qartajanna") appeared in the same year.
The original<br>
French text was entitled "Les Soirées de Carthage, ou dialogues
entre un<br>
prêtre catholique, un muphti et un cadi" (Paris, Firmin-Didot,
1847,<br>
192pp.). The first official lithograph press was set up in 1857, with
the<br>
'Fundamental Pact' ('al-'ahd al-aman') being the first product. See
M.<br>
Chenoufi (1974): Le problème des origines de l'imprimerie et de la
prese<br>
arabes en Tunisie dans sa relation avec la Renaissance 'Nahda'
(1847-1887),<br>
2 vols, Lille.<br>
It is interesting to note that in many Muslim countries (except for
Tunisia<br>
and Morocco), lithography was introduced AFTER typeset printing: e.g.
Turkey<br>
(1803), Persia (1828), Egypt (1838).<br>
- In Libya, the first Arabic typeset text (the first issue of the
offical<br>
Gazette, "Tarabulus al-Gharb") was printed in 1866 in
Tripoli.<br>
<br>
I hope this is of some use to you.<br>
<br>
With kind regards,<br>
<br>
Daniel Newman<br>
</div>
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<div>2)</div>
<div>Date: 23 Nov 2001</div>
<div>From: "Henry C. Farrell"
<charfar@worldnet.att.net><br>
Subject: Arabic Writing and Printing Response</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1"> To Christina and interested
others--</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1">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.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1">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".</font><br>
</div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1">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.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1">Charlotte Farrell</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="-1">fmr student of Arabic</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"
size="-1">Charfar@worldnet.att.net</font></div>
<div><br></div>
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<div>End of Arabic-L: 23 Nov 2001</div>
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