Originally produced to accompany an exhibition in Bamberg in 2001. Each exhibit has a full-page illustration, with substantial essay on the facing page. Among the Arabic items are the first book printed in Arabic (1514), the first book printed in Lebanon (Psalter in Syriac and Arabic in Syriac script, 1610), one of the first two books printed in Arabic in the Arab world (Aleppo, 1706), the first book printed in Arabic script in Lebanon (Shuwayr, 1734) and an early missionary publication (Beirut, 1836). There are also Ottoman Turkish and Persian items. The high-quality reproductions enable detailed examinations and comparisons to be made of these pioneering ventures in Arabic typography and book design.
Book:
The beginnings of printing in the Near and Middle East: Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Edited by Lehrstuhl für Türkische Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur, Universität Bamberg / Staatsbibliothek Bamberg.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001. 102 pp. Numerous illustrations (some in colour). ISBN: 3-447-04417-9
