Celebrating the Legacy of Five Centuries of Armenian-Language Book Printing, 1512-2012

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