A Joint Exhibit of The Armenian Research Center, University of Michigan-Dearborn Mardigian Library, University of Michigan-Dearborn, October 18-November 16, 2012 The Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum, Southfield The Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum, Southfield, December 11, 2012-January 31, 2013
Celebrating the Legacy of Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing, 1512-2012
The Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn was established in 1985. Its founder and first director was Professor Dennis Papazian. The Center’s mission is to support and encourage Armenian studies, including the documentation and publication of materials in this domain. The Center attempts to
accomplish its mission through the maintenance of an extensive library, supporting the research of scholars in Armenian studies, cooperation with other Armenian studies centers worldwide, academic outreach, and contact with the press and officeholders on issues concerning Armenia and the Armenians.
The Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum is located in Southfield, Michigan. It is the largest Museum of its kind outside of Armenia — with over 11,000 square feet — and includes rare books as well as artifacts collected from many parts of the world. Displayed in eight galleries are illuminated manuscripts, early printed books, paintings, inscribed rugs, textiles, sacred vessels, ancient objects, and practical
and personal metal objects. Scholars throughout the world have utilized the resources of the Museum.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Robert Ajemian Foundation
for sponsoring this exhibit.
Cover illustration: First Armenian Bible printed in 1666 in Amsterdam.
From the Alex and Marie Manoogian Musem.
Anyone requiring accommodations under the provisions of the ADA should contact
Gerald Ottenbreit at 313-593-5181 (e-mail gottenbr@umd.umich.edu) prior to visiting the exhibition at the Mardigian Library, University of Michigan-Dearborn to allow time for arrangements to be made.
Copyright 2012 by the University of Michigan-Dearborn
Cataloging in Publication Data
Celebrating the Legacy of Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing, 1512-2012 24 p. ; 25 cm.
1. Printing, Armenian–History–Exhibitions. 2. Books–Armenia–History–Exhibitions.
3. Armenian Imprints–Exhibitions. 4. University of Michigan-Dearborn. Armenian Research
Center–Exhibitions. 6. Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum (Southfield, Michigan)–Exhibitions.
I. Sanjian, Ara. II. Little, Daniel. III. Title.
Z228.A76C45
Exhibit and Booklet Design by Savitski Design, Ann Arbor
Chancellor’s Statement
It is with great pride that The Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn presents this special exhibition, “Celebrating the Legacy of Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing.”
On view in the Mardigian Library are works from the permanent collections of The Armenian Research Center and from the Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum in Southfield. This exhibit will travel from UM-Dearborn to Southfield to be displayed at the museum from December 11, 2012, through January 31, 2013. We are delighted to
welcome you to the campus for this exhibition. Students, scholars, and the public will find the exhibition to be a fine source of learning and appreciation for the work of these writers and printers.
This is the 500th anniversary of the printing of the first Armenian book.
To mark this occasion, UNESCO designated Yerevan as the Book Capital
of the World from April 2012-April 2013.
The history of Armenian printing is an indication of the Armenian
people’s ceaseless efforts to maintain contact with other cultures, to
learn from them, and to participate in the advancement of knowledge
and the exchange of experience and skills on a global scale.
The Armenians were among the first peoples in the Middle East to
recognize the potential of printing as a means for advancing knowledge
and exchange of ideas. Even though that there was no Armenian state
in the sixteenth century, many Armenian craftsmen and clergy traveled
to different places in Europe to print books in Armenian and then to
ship them to urban centers in the Middle East where large numbers of
Armenians lived. It was over 250 years after the first Armenian book
that an Armenian printing press was finally established on the territory
of the historic Armenian homeland. Individual Armenians were also
among the first to set up printing presses in the Middle East, in places
like Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in the mid-sixteenth century
and in Isfahan, less than a century later. Because of the turbulence of
modern Armenian history, Armenian communities of significant size
have existed outside Armenia for centuries, and Armenian books have
been published in dozens of cities on six continents. This exhibition
strives to illustrate that diversity.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 1
The University is proud of the sustained contribution The Armenian Research Center has made to the cultural experience of the University of Michigan-Dearborn community, and this exhibition adds to that continuing legacy. The Center and its director, Dr. Ara Sanjian, have had an important and growing impact in the Armenian community, locally and nationally. We are particularly grateful to the dedicated circle of supporters from the community of southeast Michigan who have shown
such commitment to these efforts.
The Armenian Research Center contributes to the metropolitan mission
of the university by providing a bridge between the university and the
vibrant Armenian community in southeast Michigan. The materials
collected by the ARC are invaluable in support of research by scholars
throughout the country and the world who are seeking to gain a better
understanding of the Armenian genocide and the Armenian diaspora.
The University of Michigan-Dearborn takes pride in The Armenian
Research Center, and the significant reputation it holds as a repository of
knowledge of Armenian history and culture. We invite you to join us for
other exhibitions, and to help us serve the community and the campus
in the future.
Daniel Little, Chancellor
University of Michigan-Dearborn
2 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 3
Five Centuries of Armenian Printing,
1512-2012: A Brief Outline
Text by Ara Sanjian, Armenian Research Center, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Armenia and the Armenians
The modern Republic of Armenia lies in the South Caucasus,
along the southern geographical boundary between Europe
and Asia, includes an area of 11,730 square miles, and borders
Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Iran.
However, the territory where the Armenian people were formed thousands of years ago, that is, Historic Armenia, was much larger. It covered, in present day terms, the entire territory of the modern Republic of Armenia, northeastern Turkey (including Mt. Ararat), the northwestern corner of Iran, the western parts of Azerbaijan, and southern Georgia.
An estimated 10 million Armenians live in the world today. Of these, about three million inhabit the Republic of Armenia. The rest constitute the large Armenian Diaspora, with sizeable ethnic Armenian communities in Russia, the United States, France, Argentina, Canada, Australia and various countries in the Middle East.
An estimated one million Armenians live in the United States today, including around 40,000 in the metro Detroit area.
The oldest uncontested mention of both Armenia and the Armenians in recorded history occurs toward the end of the sixth century BC. The gradual process of the making of the Armenian people had probably begun centuries earlier.
Almost all contemporary Armenians profess the Christian faith and
they most proudly assert that theirs was the first country in the world
to adopt Christianity as its state religion in the beginning of the fourth
century ad. About 85-90 percent of Christian Armenians today are
affiliated with the Armenian Church, which is autocephalous and is
part of the small family of Oriental Orthodox Churches — with Copts,
Syriacs and Ethiopians. There are also Roman Catholic and Evangelical
(or Protestant) Armenian Churches.
Armenians speak a distinct Indo-European language.
4 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
The Armenian Script and
Medieval Manuscript Tradition
The monk Mesrop Mashtots created a unique alphabet for the
Armenian language in the early fifth century ad, that is, about
one hundred years after the formal Christianization of Armenia.
This alphabet initially consisted of 36 letters; two letters were added
around the time of the Crusades. This alphabet is still in use, and
Mashtots remains a much revered figure among Armenians.
The creation of the Armenian alphabet precipitated a rich tradition
of Armenian language translations and original works. The Bible was
the first book translated into Armenian. Its translation was completed
by 439 ad. This was followed by the translation of the writings of the
early Church Fathers and original works penned by Armenian authors.
These works were preserved, prior to the invention of printing and even
sometimes after, through hand-copied manuscripts.
Despite the turbulence of Armenian history, about 25,000 complete
Armenian manuscripts, written between the seventh and eighteenth
centuries, have survived. Of these, around 17,000 are now stored at the
Matenadaran or the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts
in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. About 2,500 of these manuscripts are
illuminated.
The next two largest collections of Armenian manuscripts are found in
the Library of the Armenian Catholic Mkhitarist Congregation on the isle
of San Lazzaro off Venice and within the compound of the Armenian
Patriarchate in Jerusalem. Both collections consist of more than 4,000
complete manuscripts each.
In the United States, much smaller collections of Armenian manuscripts
can be found at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA, the Freer
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Pierpont Morgan Library and
Museum in New York, N.Y., the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD,
the Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum in Southfield, MI, and other
renowned institutions.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 5
Hakob Meghapart and the
Earliest Armenian Printed Books
When Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press in the
mid-fifteenth century, Armenians had long ceased having a
state of their own. Their homeland was divided among rival
Muslim empires, while the Church hierarchy and merchants involved in
international trade acted as the people’s leadership in the absence of
native state structures.
Nevertheless, Armenian was one of the earliest languages in the world,
in which books were printed. The Armenian alphabet was printed as a
specimen as early as in 1486, while the first complete printed book in
Armenian appeared in all likelihood in late 1512. This makes Armenian
the seventeenth language in the world overall and only the second
originating in Western Asia to be printed on the moveable type press
(following Latin, German, Hebrew, Greek, Spanish, English, Italian, Czech,
French, Dutch, Croatian Old Church Slavonic, Portuguese, Old Church
Slavonic, Serbian Old Church Slavonic, Danish, and the Scots). To mark
the 500th anniversary of this occasion, UNESCO has designated Yerevan
as the 2012 World Book Capital.
Italy was the first foreign country to which German printers had taken
their new invention, and by the sixteenth century, Venice had become the
greatest center of printing in Europe. Eight of the seventeen Armenian
titles published in the sixteenth century were printed in Venice, including
the first five by Hakob Meghapart (Jacob ‘Condemned for His Sins’), now
acknowledged universally as the founder of Armenian printing.
Of the five or six books attributed to the press established by Meghapart,
Urbatagirk (The Book of Friday) is now accepted as the oldest. It contains
the confessions of Cyprien the Magus, as well as all manner of things to
be avoided on Friday. It provides ways to bind and conquer the forces of
darkness, which, many Armenians then believed, manifested themselves
everywhere to plague lonely travelers.
Hakob’s other books also cover a wide range of similar themes, like
heroic folk tales, prayers, other spiritual verses, ritual instructions,
astrology, medicine and popular songs, all thought to be of immediate
interest and help for merchants and other travelers.
6 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Armenian Printing in Sixteenth- and
Seventeenth-Century Europe
fter Hakob Meghapart’s pioneering effort, Armenian printing
progressed slowly, but steadily in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. Seventeen Armenian titles were printed until 1600;
twenty-six, in 1600-1650; and over 135, in 1650-1700. The number of
copies made for each edition also increased with the highest production
run for a single edition in the seventeenth century reaching 8300 copies.
Most of this printing activity centered in Europe, with the Italian cities,
particularly Venice and Rome, being the most important locations of
Armenian printing in this period. However, Amsterdam and Marseille
challenged their predominance after 1660.
The earliest Armenian presses functioned only for a few years; their
operation was fraught with technical difficulties, financial instability,
and Roman Catholic censorship. Some of the early Armenian printers
descended from merchant families; others, were prominent churchmen.
These printers, however, were dependent on the technical skills and
professional-institutional organization of European artisans and
enterprises. Financial support for these printing initiatives came from
wealthy Armenian merchants active in the Diaspora. Indeed, a good
part of these books — religious and lay — was intended for the
consumption of Armenian merchants. Some of the books printed
in Europe were also sent to the large Armenian markets in the East,
particularly Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, and New Julfa,
a suburb of Isfahan, the capital of Persia. The growing demand for
Armenian books in the late seventeenth century eventually induced
a number of non-Armenian printers and publishers to also enter the
commercial market of producing Armenian-language editions.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church not only censored Armenianlanguage
and other books printed in Europe, it also used the Armenian
type to preach its own doctrines among the Armenians. Indeed, Armenians
became attracted to the Netherlands as a center of their printing activities
because it was a Protestant country. The Armenian-language Bible was
published in full for the first time in Amsterdam in 1666.
A
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 7
Armenian Printing in Constantinople
The constraints of Armenian history led to the initial flourishing
of Armenian printing outside Historic Armenia, which was divided
between the Ottoman and Persian empires during the sixteenth
through the early nineteenth centuries.
The first Armenian printing press in Historic Armenia was actually
established in 1771, over 250 years after Hakob Meghapart. However,
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed the first, albeit shortlived
and discrete, attempts by Armenians in the East to set up printing
presses if not in their own historical homeland, but at least in the urban
centers of the two empires which ruled over Historic Armenia. Thus, not
only was Armenian – after Hebrew – only the second Western Asian
language in which a complete book was printed, Armenian craftsmen
and their sponsors also played a pivotal role in bringing printing to the
Ottoman and Persian empires, where the rulers frowned upon this new
technology until the eighteenth century.
The first attempt to set up an Armenian press in Constantinople belongs
to Abgar of Tokat, the second Armenian printer. With the approval of the
Armenian patriarch, he printed six Armenian titles between 1567 and
1569. A century later, Eremia Chelebi Keomiurchian established his own
printing house in Constantinople and printed two works in 1677-1678.
Armenian printing in Constantinople attained a more consistent
character from 1698, when Grigor of Merzifon acquired the typefaces
and part of Eremia’s printing equipment and established his own press.
Grigor became the first Armenian layman to make printing his sole
profession and his business remained active for forty years. He also
trained a generation of Armenian printers, among them Astvatsatur
of Constantinople, whose family eventually operated a printing house
for 150 years.
Indeed, since 1698, at least one Armenian title has been printed in
Constantinople each year with only five interruptions — the years 1759,
1773, 1791, 1797 and 1916. For the first six decades of the eighteenth
century, Constantinople was quasi-regularly the city where the largest
number of Armenian titles was published every year, and its status
8 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
as “the World Capital of the Armenian Book” was only challenged
occasionally by Venice during this period. Up to nine titles were printed
annually in Constantinople throughout the eighteenth century. This
rate of publication activity remained steady during the first half of the
nineteenth century as well. The increase in Armenian titles printed by
the Mkhitarist Congregation, however, made Constantinople cede the
title of “the World Capital of the Armenian Book” to Venice for about
nine decades, from the early 1760s to the mid-1840s. That said, it is
important to mention that the Mkhitarist Congregation recruited most
of its friars from Constantinople and other parts of the Ottoman Empire
and also sold a large number of its books in Constantinople.
The Tanzimat reforms from 1839 stimulated Armenian cultural activity
in Constantinople and the port city of Smyrna (now, Izmir). The number
of Armenian titles printed in the Ottoman capital grew exponentially
throughout the next few decades. By the mid-nineteenth century
Constantinople had regained its status as “the World Capital of the
Armenian Book” for a new span of 40 years. Thereafter, the fortunes of
Armenian book publishing in Constantinople became hostage to political
developments in the Ottoman Empire. Armenian printing stagnated
during the repressive regime of Sultan Abdülhamid II, but rebounded
immediately after the 1908 Revolution. It almost ground to a halt
during the First World War, yet it was rejuvenated immediately after
the Ottoman defeat. After Constantinople (renamed Istanbul in 1930)
was integrated into the Turkish Republic established by Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk, Armenian cultural freedoms were curtailed, the total number
of Armenian books published declined, although the city still remains an
important center of Armenian-language book printing outside Armenia.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 9
Armenian Printing in Venice
Venice in Italy holds a special place in Armenian printing history,
and the 500th anniversary official celebrations of the first
Armenian printed book were launched there in December 2011
in the presence of the President of Armenia.
Hakob Meghapart printed the first five or six Armenian titles in
Venice. The second and third Armenian printers, Abgar of Tokat and
Hovhannes Terzntsi, were also active in Venice in the sixteenth century.
Moreover, there was renewed vigor after 1675, with even some Venetian
typographers publishing Armenian books.
Nevertheless, Venice’s place as one of “the World Capitals of the
Armenian Book” is due to the legacy of the Armenian Catholic Abbot,
Mkhitar of Sebastia, who moved his congregation to the island of San
Lazzaro (Surb Ghazar, in Armenian) near the city in 1717. Since then,
and almost exclusively through his efforts and those of his disciples, at
least one Armenian title has been published in Venice annually, with only
six exceptions during the years 1718-1758. In the early 1750s, Venice
challenged Constantinople as the city where most Armenian books were
printed and it soon surpassed the latter, maintaining a solid lead until
the mid-1840s. Thereafter, even though the number of Armenian books
printed by the Mkhitarists in Venice remained steady, and at times it
even grew, it could not keep pace with the increasing number of books
being published in Constantinople and other emerging centers
of Armenian printing.
The Mkhitarists have published original works and translated titles in
Armenian in various fields: religion; grammars of Armenian and other
languages; Armenian, bilingual or trilingual dictionaries; textbooks;
medieval and modern histories of Armenia and other nations; histories
of Armenian literature; geography; maps; bibliographies and poetry.
They have also issued a number of Armenian periodicals, the most
famous being Bazmavep (Polyhistory), the oldest Armenian periodical
still being published today. Launched in 1843, it is now a respected
academic journal in Armenian Studies.
Many of these and other Mkhitarist cultural activities have been
financed by Armenian merchants and philanthropists in the Diaspora.
10 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Armenian Printing in Tiflis
Tiflis (since 1936, Tbilisi), the capital of Georgia, Armenia’s
northern neighbor, was annexed by Russia in 1801. Thereafter,
Russia gradually conquered the Armenian-inhabited eastern
parts of Transcaucasia (South Caucasus), ending in 1828. Under Russian
rule, Tiflis became the administrative center of Transcaucasia, and
many Armenians from other Transcaucasian regions moved there.
They eventually constituted over one-third of the city’s population,
and many of its mayors in the late nineteenth century were native
Armenians. The presence of this significant Armenian population
and a wealthy Armenian class turned Tiflis into the most important
Armenian cultural center in the late Russian Empire, a counterpart
to Constantinople in the Ottoman realm.
The first Armenian book was printed in Tiflis in 1823. Armenian
printing activity in the city grew noticeably from 1860 and increased
dramatically after 1875. As Sultan Abdülhamid II curtailed Armenian
cultural freedoms in the Ottoman Empire, Tiflis overtook Constantinople
as “the World Capital of the Armenian Book” in the 1890s. After 1908,
Armenian printing expanded again in Constantinople, and during
the next decade, the two cities interchanged the honor of being
“the World Capital of the Armenian Book” on a few occasions —
mostly as a consequence of political upheavals in Ottoman lands.
The collapse of Russian Tsarism (1917), the establishment of independent,
but short-lived Georgian and Armenian republics, and the eventual
extension of Communist rule over the entire Transcaucasus limited
Armenian cultural activities in Tiflis. The number of printed Armenian
titles declined sharply, especially after the Transcaucasian Federation
within the Soviet Union (of which Tiflis was the capital) was abolished
in 1936. Many Armenian cultural figures left Tiflis for Soviet Armenia,
and, in 1923, Yerevan turned into the new “World Capital of the
Armenian Book.”
It appears that Georgia’s renewed independence after the collapse of the
Soviet Union (1991) has not improved the fortunes of Armenian printing
in Tbilisi to any noticeable degree, despite the fact that Armenians still
constitute about seven percent of the city’s population.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 11
Other Armenian Printing Centers in Europe
until the First World War
The turbulence of Armenian history dictated that no book would be
printed in Historic Armenia until 1772—some 260 years after the
first book was published by Hakob Meghapart. In the meantime,
and up to the early 1920s, most Armenian books printed in the world
appeared outside Armenia, extensively in Europe, but also in the Middle
East, South Asia and North America. Stockholm, Suceava, Jassy, Djibouti
and Singapore are among the surprising locations where the lone
Armenian book appeared between 1512 and 1914. However, this section
will focus on the more important centers of the same period.
Italy
In addition to Venice and Constantinople, Rome is the only other city
in the world where Armenian books have been printed during each of
the five centuries since the time of Hakob Megahpart. However, Rome
never became an important center of Armenian book printing. The
number of titles printed there regularly remained small, and they were
associated overwhelmingly with the Roman Catholic Church. A handful
of Armenian books were also printed in Livorno, Milan, and Padua in the
seventeenth century.
The Low Countries
For about 60 years at the end of the seventeenth and early eighteenth
century, Amsterdam was the center of Armenian printing. It attracted
Armenians because the Dutch Republic, as a Protestant state, shielded
them from Roman Catholic censorship. The first Armenian press
in Amsterdam was established in 1660. After 1664, it was run by
Archbishop Voskan Yerevantsi, who eventually accomplished the much
cherished dream of printing the full Armenian Bible in 1666-1668.
Voskan’s press was later moved to Livorno (1669-1671) and Marseille
(1672-1686). Between 1685 and 1718, a second Armenian press was set
up in Amsterdam, administered this time by the Vanandetsi family of
publishers. It is famous for printing the first Armenian map of the world
and the first edition of the History of Movses Khorenatsi, “the Armenian
Herodotus,” both in 1695. In 1727, the Armenian typefaces of this press
were bought by the Mkhitarists, who had just embarked upon their long
and illustrious printing mission.
12 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
The Habsburg Empire
Armenian printing in the Habsburg Empire was totally tied to the
activities of the Mkhitarist friars, who broke away from the congregation
in Venice and set up a separate brotherhood in Trieste in 1772. The
Trieste Mkhitarists embarked upon printing activities in 1776 and
published around 80 Armenian titles until 1810. When Trieste was
temporarily detached from the Habsburg Empire during the Napoleonic
Wars, the Mkhitarist monks moved to Vienna, where they resumed their
printing activities in 1811-1812. Thus Vienna turned into an important
center of Armenian book publishing. The quantity of Armenian titles
printed by the Mkhitarists in Vienna during the next century and
beyond was less than their counterparts in Venice, but it included many
important works in Armenian Studies. In 1887, the Vienna Mkhitarists
also launched the academic journal Handes Amsoreay, which continues
to be published today.
France
Although the first Armenian book was printed in Paris in 1633, and
Voskan Yerevantsi’s press operated in Marseille in 1672-1686, Armenian
book publishing became a regular feature in France only in the
nineteenth century. Over ten Armenian titles were printed in Paris in
1812-1828; and another 75 or so, in 1850-1866. Armenian printing
also prospered briefly in Marseille after 1885, while Paris regained a
permanent place among the major Armenian book-printing centers
only from 1900.
England
Until 1914, Armenian printing was extremely limited in England
with just over 35 titles being printed, the oldest going back to 1736.
A handful of Armenian titles also appeared in Manchester and Oxford
in the nineteenth century.
Malta
Malta briefly appeared among the centers of Armenian-language book
printing when American missionaries set up their press there and printed
nine Armenian and many more Armeno-Turkish titles between 1828
and 1831.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 13
The Russian Empire
The first Armenian press in Russia was set up in the capital, St. Petersburg,
by Grigor Khaldariants, a wealthy merchant from New Julfa, in 1781.
Until his death in 1789, he printed over sixteen Armenian titles. His
press was thereafter moved, first, to the Armenian settlement in Nor
Nakhijevan, near Rostov-on-Don (1790-1795), and, subsequently, to
Astrakhan on the Caspian shore (1796-1800). There were a number of
short-lived attempts to revive Armenian book-printing in St. Petersburg
in the nineteenth century, although the capital of the Romanovs did not
become an important center in this domain until the mid-1870s. After
the first Armenian printed book in Moscow appeared in 1819, Russia’s
historical capital very quickly established itself as the major center
of Armenian book-printing in mainland Russia. Following the 1860s,
however, Moscow’s supremacy was at different times briefly challenged
by Feodosiya (in Crimea, now part of the Ukraine), Nor Nakhijevan, and
St. Petersburg.
Subsequent to the Russian imperial conquests in the Caucasus and
Central Asia, Armenian books were also printed in Armavir, Pyatigorsk,
Shamakhi, Batumi, Ashkhabad and Samarkand. In these newly acquired
lands (and excluding the territory of Historic Armenia), only Baku can be
described as an important center of Armenian book-publishing and that
from the 1870s.
The Ottoman Empire and Post-Ottoman territories
In the Ottoman Empire, the port of Smyrna on the Aegean coast was
the second most important center of Armenian book-printing after
Constantinople. After an ephemeral attempt by Mahtesi Markos in
1759-1762, Armenian books were printed regularly in Smyrna from
1835. The third major center was the Armenian Convent of St. James
in Jerusalem, where an Armenian printing press was established in
1833. About 25 Armenian titles were also printed in the monastery at
Armash, near the town of Izmit, between 1863 and 1889; seven titles in
Adapazari, in 1911-1914; and a few, in Bursa, Beirut, and Aleppo.
As modern Armenian nationalism burgeoned and became more assertive
in the late nineteenth century, it clashed with the Ottoman authorities,
14 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
and, as a result, some of the Armenian printing activity of Ottoman-born
Armenians was transferred to newly independent, post-Ottoman states
(Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria), as well as to Cyprus and Egypt, which had
been taken over by the British. In these lands, Varna, Cairo, and Alexandria
were the most consistent publishing centers in the early 1900s.
Switzerland
Some of the Armenian opponents of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II
established their base in Geneva, which eventually turned this Swiss city
into yet another regular center of Armenian book-publishing from 1898
to 1913.
Persia
In Persia, Armenian printing was first attempted in New Julfa, the
Armenian-inhabited suburb of Isfahan, in the seventeenth century.
After a lull of almost two centuries, Armenian printing was re-launched
on a more regular footing in New Julfa in 1877. Armenian books were
also printed systematically in Tabriz from 1889 and, more intermittently,
in Tehran from 1904.
India
Armenian printing first flourished in the British colony of India through
the activities of a group of reform-minded Armenian merchants in
Madras. About forty Armenian titles appeared in Madras between 1772
and 1818, including a number of groundbreaking political tracts and the
first-ever Armenian periodical, Azdarar, in 1794. Thereafter, the torch
of Armenian book-printing in India passed on to Calcutta (modern-day
Kolkata), where the first short-lived attempt to set up an Armenian
press had occurred in 1796-1797. Calcutta became a recurrent center of
Armenian book printing from 1811 to 1853, and thereafter Armenian
titles continued to appear there occasionally until 1888.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 15
Printing in the Armenian Homeland
up to the First World War
t the dawn of Armenian printing in the sixteenth century, the
historical Armenian homeland was divided between the Persian
and Ottoman empires. While Armenians were among the
pioneers who established printing presses in both empires, their efforts
were initially confined to major urban centers outside the Armenianinhabited
regions.
The first Armenian printing press in the Armenian homeland was set
up under Catholicos Simeon I Yerevantsi in Etchmiadzin, the Holy See
of the Armenian Church, then under Persian rule, in 1771. This press
printed about fifteen books until Persian Armenia was conquered by
Russia in 1828.
Under Russian rule, the Etchmiadzin press resumed its activity in 1833
and expanded after 1870, becoming one of the important Armenian
book-publishing centers in the world. Armenian book printing also
flourished in the late nineteenth century in Shushi, Alexandropol
(modern-day Gyumri) and Yerevan. It was more limited in Elizavetpol
or Gandzak (modern-day Ganje) and in Akhaltsikhe.
Armenian printing in the six Armenian-inhabited eastern vilayets of
the Ottoman Empire and Cilicia also remained extremely infrequent.
The first Armenian press in Ottoman/Western Armenia was established
by the famous clergyman, Mkrtich Khrimian, in the monastery of Varag
near Van in 1860. Some fifteen books were printed in Van until the
1908 Young Turk Revolution. The only other towns in these areas where
the rare Armenian book was published until 1908 were Adana, Sivas,
Kharpert and Trabzon. After 1908, Merzifon, Sivas, Giresun, and Antep
also became centers of Armenian book publishing of limited importance.
A
16 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Armenian Printing in Yerevan
The First World War caused sweeping changes and set the patterns
which continue to regulate Armenian life today. In Eastern Armenia,
changes were caused by the 1917 Russian Revolution, the collapse
of the Tsarist imperial order, and its replacement by Soviet federalism,
where Armenia became a constituent republic.
Yerevan, the capital of Soviet Armenia, now became the unchallenged
“World Capital of the Armenian book,” leaving both Istanbul and
Tbilisi far behind. Although it was the administrative center of Eastern
Armenia from the late Persian times, Yerevan had never before been an
Armenian cultural center. Armenian printing began there in 1875, but,
even inside the narrow confines of Eastern Armenia, Yerevan could never
compete with Etchmiadzin (Vagharshapat) and was even overtaken by
Alexandropol (now, Gyumri) in the 1890s.
Yerevan’s fortunes improved after an independent Armenian republic
emerged in 1918 and, more importantly, when it became the Soviet
Armenian capital in 1920. The Soviet nationalities policy encouraged the
blossoming of cultures in the national languages of the union republics,
and the total number of Armenian titles printed in Yerevan jumped from
about 20 in 1920 to close to 600 exactly a decade later. This preeminence
has continued throughout the seventy years of Soviet rule in Armenia
and during the last two decades of independence, which has followed
Communism. From 1923, no other city has even remotely challenged
Yerevan as the world’s preeminent Armenian printing center. According
to official statistics, 1370 Armenian and 266 foreign-language titles were
published in Armenia in 2009, of which 1600 came out in Yerevan.
Unfortunately, the same Soviet nationalities policy, which was so beneficial
to Yerevan, also caused the gradual decline and virtual demise of other
established Armenian printing centers in the former Russian Empire —
Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Tbilisi, Baku, Nor Nakhijevan, Shushi,
and even Alexandropol (renamed Leninankan in Soviet times). In the case
of Etchmiadzin the restrictions were also precipitated by the Communist
authorities’ anti-religious policies, although the Holy See was allowed to
have its own printing press again from 1961.
The period of independence since 1991 has not introduced any
significant change in these patterns, except a revival of publishing
activity occurring in Etchmiadzin.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 17
Armenian Printing in the
Post-Genocide Diaspora
In the case of the Ottoman Empire, the 1915 genocide of the
Armenians and the subsequent establishment of the Turkish
republic in 1923 put an end to all Armenian printing activity in
modern Turkey, except in Istanbul.
Instead, a new global Armenian Diaspora emerged, consisting primarily
of genocide survivors. Previously well-established Armenian printing
centers like Venice, Vienna, Jerusalem, Paris, Boston, Cairo and Alexandria,
even Istanbul, as well as New Julfa and Tabriz in Iran, now came to be seen
as part of the new diasporan landscape. The same transformation can be
applied as well to earlier Armenian printing centers of lesser importance —
London, Geneva, Sofia, Bucharest, Athens, Nicosia, and others.
With the formation of new, post-genocide Armenian communities in the
Arab countries of the Middle East and in South America, new centers
of Armenian printing also emerged, notably Beirut, Aleppo, and Buenos
Aires. In the second half of the twentieth century, migratory trends
within the Armenian Diaspora led to the printing of Armenian-language
books in Canada and Australia as well.
The rise and fall of Armenian printing activities within individual hoststates
of the Armenian Diaspora have also been affected by population
flows within those states. For example, with the influx of Armenians
living in Iran to Tehran, the latter overtook New Julfa and Tabriz, the
earlier Armenian printing centers in the country, with respect to the
number of Armenian books published.
18 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Printing in Armeno-Turkish
Some books were printed in foreign languages, but in the Armenian
script – mostly for Armenian readers, who had ceased using
Armenian as their mother tongue and adopted the languages of
their neighbors or the imperial powers under which they lived.
The first such example was an Armeno-Kipchak prayer book printed by
the priest Hovhannes Karmatanents in Lvov, then part of Poland, in 1618.
Kipchak was the language of the Tatars, and the Armenians for whom
this book was printed had migrated to Poland from the neighboring
Tatar khanate of Crimea.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, a few books — again
overwhelmingly religious in character — were printed in Armeno-Kurdish
for Armenians living in their homeland, close to Kurds, in the Ottoman
Empire’s eastern provinces.
However, most books in this category are in Armeno-Turkish. The first
such book was printed by Abbot Mkhitar in Venice in 1727. Thereafter,
about 2,000 volumes were published in Armeno-Turkish in the next
260 years in about 50 different cities. Until the 1820s, Armeno-Turkish
book-printing was carried out largely either in Constantinople or by
the Mkhitarists in Venice, Trieste, and Vienna. Then, these centers were
also joined by American missionaries, first in Malta and then in Smyrna.
Indeed, up to the 1840s, most Armeno-Turkish printed books were either
religious in character or were intended for language instruction.
From the 1850s, during the Tanzimat era, Constantinople forged ahead
to be the undisputed center of Armeno-Turkish book-publishing as well.
Not only did the quantity of Armeno-Turkish books printed every year
increase, their topics also became varied, including translations of
French and English classics. During the Abdülhamid II era, the number
of Armeno-Turkish books printed also declined, and the topics
they covered were restricted due to heavy censorship. However,
Constantinople’s leading position in this domain was not affected,
as there was no challenge from Tiflis on this occasion – printing in
Armeno-Turkish being almost exclusively an Ottoman Armenian
tradition.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 19
After the 1915 genocide, survivors carried the habit of printing in
Armeno-Turkish to their new host cities, especially Aleppo and Beirut,
but also, albeit to a lesser extent, to Cairo, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires,
Marseille, New York, and Los Angeles. However, with the speaking of
Turkish among the Armenians gradually dying out, the last Armeno-
Turkish book was printed in Buenos Aires in 1968.
Between 1840 and 1947 about 100 periodicals also appeared in
Armeno-Turkish. Some of these had parallel Armenian or Ottoman Turkish
sections, and a few were Ottoman official provincial publications. Up
to the First World War, more than half of these periodicals were issued in
Constantinople, and a fewer number, in Adana, Antep, other Armenianinhabited
locations in the Ottoman Empire, Varna, and Egypt. In the
post-genocide Diaspora, Armeno-Turkish periodicals survived until the late
1940s in Aleppo, Beirut, Jerusalem, Cairo, Marseille and the United States.
20 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Armenian Printing in the United States
The first Armenian-language book was published in the United
States in 1857. At that time, very few Armenians lived in the New
World, and from 1857 to 1888, all Armenian printing activity in
the USA was carried out by American missionaries from New York. About
forty titles were printed in three decades, including various editions of
the Bible, the New Testament, the Psalms, other religious literature, and
at least four printings of the Armenian translation of John Bunyan’s The
Pilgrim’s Progress. The missionaries then shipped these books to their
various posts in the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian-inhabited provinces.
After the beginning of Armenian mass migration to the USA in the late
nineteenth century, the new migrants set up their own presses. The
first was that of Haygag Eginian (Haykak Ekinian), again in New York in
1890. Books printed by Armenians covered more varied subjects. They
continued to appear exclusively in New York, until Boston had its own
Armenian press at the turn of the century, and quickly overtook New
York as the center of Armenian printing in the USA. Boston would hold
this honor for decades, although Armenian books were also printed in
the twentieth century in other towns in Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota. However,
the difficulty of maintaining Armenian as a spoken and written language
among the US-born generations resulted in these printing centers dying
out within a few decades.
The situation in California is slightly different. Here, the first Armenian
book was printed in Fresno in 1899. For decades, the number of books
printed in California remained much less than those published in Boston.
However, new migration trends after the 1960s changed the picture
dramatically. The recent waves of Armenian immigrants prefer to settle
in Southern California and have turned the Los Angeles area into the
most important center of Armenian book printing in the USA at present.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 21
Armenian Printing by
Non-Armenian Publishers and Organizations
rmenian printing has mostly been an ethnic endeavor.
Nevertheless, at few junctures since the sixteenth century, non-
Armenian commercial publishers have also become involved
in Armenian book-printing, albeit for relatively short periods. The first
concerted such attempt occurred in Venice in the second half of the
seventeenth century, when Giovanni Battista Povis, Michiel Angelo
Barboni, Giacomo Moretti and Antonio Bortoli all ventured into the
domain of printing and selling Armenian books.
Attempts by non-Armenian religious institutions to publish books in
Armenian for proselytizing have been more focused and of longer
duration. Of these the first rigorous effort was by the Roman Catholic
Church as early as the late sixteenth century. After 1622, publishing
Armenian books both for Roman Catholic missionaries and for Armenian
Catholic converts was carried out through the Congregation for the
Propagation of the Faith. In the eighteenth century, Armenian Catholic
institutions, especially the Mkhitarists in Venice and Vienna, established
their own printing presses, thus turning Armenian Catholic bookpublishing
into an “in-house” affair.
Protestant missionaries from the United States started publishing the
Bible and other religious works in Armenian from the 1820s in Malta,
Smyrna, Constantinople, New York, and later in other locations as well.
These publications also helped pave the way for the formation of an
Armenian Evangelical community in the mid-nineteenth century with
its own printing presses.
In the early twentieth century, the Jehovah’s Witnesses also began
publishing Armenian books, mostly in New York. Seventh-Day Adventists
and, more recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) have also pursued the same path. However, their Armenian
adherents remain very small to date and are not yet considered by other
Armenians (including members of the national Church, Catholics and
Evangelicals) as part of the Armenian mainstream.
A
22 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Armenian book-publishing by non-Christian religious group has been
minimal. The same can be said for secular ideologies, Communists
excepted. Since Armenia’s independence in 1991, however, international
organizations and foreign embassies based in Yerevan have sponsored
the publication of many Armenian books, explaining their core beliefs
and expounding their activities.
Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing 23
Armenian Printing: Historians and Bibliographers
s the government of Armenia, together with Armenian
organizations and Armenian Studies centers throughout the
world, are marking the 500th anniversary of the first Armenian
printed book, this quincentennial should also be an opportunity to
applaud the hard work of all scholars, who have been involved in
documenting and researching the history of Armenian printing and the
periodical press since the second half of the nineteenth century.
Among the pioneers of Armenian printing history a special place is held
by Father Garegin Zarphanalian (1827-1901) and Father Arsen Ghazikian
(1870-1932), both Mkhitarists from Venice, Leo (Arakel Babakhanian,
1860-1932), Teodik (Teodos Labchinchian, 1873-1928), Garegin Levonyan
(1872-1940) and Rafayel Ishkhanyan (1922-1995). They were among
the first to compile comprehensive bibliographies of printed Armenian
books and attempt to write all-inclusive histories of Armenian printing.
Dozens of other scholars, on the other hand, have focused their energies
on uncovering the details of Armenian printing history in particular
locations or during specific time-periods, or studying a certain genre of
Armenian books. It is unfortunate that their names cannot be listed in
the limited space of this booklet.
The most comprehensive effort to date to compile a full Armenian
booklist has been made by bibliographers at the Armenian National
Library. Four large volumes, all published in Yerevan since 1967, have
tried to list all books printed between 1512 and 1920. A more limited
bibliography of all Armenian books published until 1695 was compiled
by Raymond H. Kévorkian (in French), and those between 1512 and
1850, by Vrej Nersessian (in English).
The cataloging and researching of the history of Armenian periodicals
is an indispensable sub-field of Armenian printing history, and the
contributions of Father Grigoris Galemkearian, Garegin Levonyan,
Hovhannes Petrosyan, Amalya Kirakoyan and Manvel Babloyan stand
out in this domain.
The most recent comprehensive bibliography of Armeno-Turkish books
and periodicals was published by Hasmik Stepanyan in 2005.
A
24 Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing
Armenian Printing History: Digital Resources
The 400th anniversary of Armenian printing was celebrated with
pomp and ceremony exactly one hundred years earlier, in 1911-1912,
in both the Russian and Ottoman empires, where Armenians
lived in large numbers. It was arguably the first nation-wide Armenian
celebration of a cultural-historical landmark event in the Age of
Nationalism.
The Armenian genocide and the Communist takeover in Russia just
a few years later starkly changed the Armenian political landscape,
but, under the conditions of Soviet-cum-independent statehood,
holding anniversaries of important dates in Armenian history became
commonplace in the twentieth century.
The quincentennial of Armenian printing coincides with a period when
publishing is moving fast into the digital age, and Armenians are trying
to keep up with the changing times. A number of very significant
initiatives are already underway, and the 500th anniversary celebrations
may provide a new impetus to this trend.
The Hakob Meghapart project <http://nla.am/arm/meghapart/index.htm>
is the digital version of the comprehensive bibliography of Armenian
books compiled at the National Library of Armenia. In addition to the
four volumes printed since 1967, the Armenian version of this website
currently includes all materials printed in Armenian up to the year 1930.
The English version remains confined, however, to publications until 1800.
Through the website of the National Library in Armenia <http://nla.am/
arm/> internet users now also have free access to the digital versions of
most Armenian books printed between 1512 and 1800, and many other
rare books printed between 1800 and 1920. This process of digitization is
ongoing, and the National Library of Armenia is trying to work with other
Armenian Studies centers, including the Armenian Research Center at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn, to have open access, digitized versions
of all early Armenian books as quickly as possible.
The University of Michigan-Dearborn
Senior Officers
Daniel E. Little, Ph.D., Chancellor
Catherine A. Davy, Ph.D., Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Jeffrey L. Evans, M.B.A., Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs
Stanley E. Henderson, M.A., Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management
and Student Life
Edward J. Bagale, M.B.A., Vice Chancellor for Government Relations
Mallory M. Simpson, M.Ed., Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement
Academic Deans
Jerold L. Hale, Ph.D., College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters
Tony W. England, Ph.D., interim, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Lee S. Redding, Ph.D., interim, College of Business
Edward A. Silver, Ed.D., School of Education
Regents Of The University
Julia Donovan Darlow, Ann Arbor
Laurence B. Deitch, Bloomfield Hills
Denise Ilitch, Bingham Farms
Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich
Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor
Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Pointe Park
S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Pointe Farms
Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor
Mary Sue Coleman, (ex officio)
Citizens Advisory Committee
Brian Connolly
Steve Economy
Mark Gaffney
Paul Hillegonds
Rich Homberg
Arthur Horwitz
Hassan Jaber
Gail Mee
Patricia Mooradian
Shirley Stancato
Armenian Research Center
4901 Evergreen Road
Dearborn, Michigan 48128-2406
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