Arabic printing in Malta, 1825-1845 : its history and its place in the development of print culture in the Arab Middle East

Abstract

The Arabic press run by the English Church Missionary Society in Malta between 1825 and 1842 produced over a hundred editions of Arabic and Turkish books, tracts and newspapers for readers in the Middle East at a time when indigenous printing was still in its infancy. Drawing mainly on archival sources, this thesis examines its origins and history, and attempts to dispel the confusion hitherto surrounding its identity and ownership. It traces the aims and policies underlying its activities, and explores the identities and roles of its Arab, Turkish, Maltese and European employees. The publications themselves are also identified, from archival records and from surviving copies, enumerated and analysed in terms both of the texts and of their physical presentation. An attempt is also mace to establish in what quantities, where, how, to whom and by whom they were distributed in the Middle East and elsewhere. An account is then given of the closure of the press in 1842 and its brief afterlife until 1845. In order to place the subject in its appropriate historical context, an extensive account is also given of the history of Arabic book production in, and export from, Europe in the previous three centuries; and a preliminary assessment is attempted of the place of the Malta Arabic press in the overall development of print culture in the Arab world, especially in relation to the 19th-century cultural revival (naħda).