27-Sep-2005
Bibliotheca Alexandrina has recently published a book titled “Matba’at Boulaq” or “Boulaq Press” that focuses on issues related to the establishment of the press and its role in the history and development of printing in Egypt since the end of the Napoleon era. The book was released during an exhibition on the history of printing in Egypt that was organized by Bibliotheca Alexandrina and is currently being translated to English to reach more readers.
The hardbound book contains 185 pages of Imperial Octavo size and five chapters. It was co-authored by Dr. Khaled Azab, Media Director and Deputy Director of the Calligraphy Center and Ahmad Mansour, a researcher in Calligraphy Center in Bibliotheca Alexandrina and supervised by Dr. Ismail Siraj Al Din, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Director.
Dr. Azab told ME Printer that it took them eight months to prepare and collect information for the project. “The book has a combination of historical, archeological and printing information and it was a great challenge for us to combine all these aspects in one book. It also contains some rare pictures of Boulaq Press and its managers, which have not been published before. In addition, Dr. Ayda Nousair, Professor of Library Sciences in the American University of Cairo, is preparing a bibliography on Boulaq’s publications to throw more light on its leading role in the history of printing in Egypt.”
Dr. Azab added that the book was released on a very special occasion, which is the inauguration of the exhibition organized by Bibliotheca Alexandrina on the history of printing. The exhibition was put up under the patronage of Egypt’s First lady Suzan Mubarak and lasted for three and half months. “We printed 3000 copies of this book and we are currently translating it to English after the great response we got from the people who read the Arabic version. We are also negotiating with “Reading for All Fair” to print 10,000 additional copies. People can get the book from Bibliotheca Alexandrina bookshop, Al Ahram Bookshops, Al Diwan and the Egyptian Lebanese Publishing House.”
The first chapter of the book talks about the start of printing in the world – in the Far East, Europe and the Arab World. The second chapter is about the beginnings of printing in Egypt since the start of the French Campaign (1798-1801) and this chapter stresses the fact that Napoleon Bonaparte believed in propaganda to attract Egyptians, therefore he gave orders to establish a press and carry it to Egypt and supply it with Arabic, Greek and French letters.
The book in its third chapter narrates the history of the press during the time of the Mohamed Ali Family which ruled Egypt, from 1805 to 1848. Mohamed Ali began thinking of initiating printing in Egypt in 1815 when he thought of setting up an army to have a stronger grip on the country. In 1820, Mohamed Ali ordered to establish Boulaq Press to print books, regulations, etc.
The fourth chapter portrays different publications printed by the press and the rules and regulations for publishing, while the fifth gives the reader an idea about journalism during the French Campaign and the establishment and development of Al Waqa’ Al Masria newspaper.
The book also contains a picture of the commemorative tableau that hung at the entrance of Boulaq Press, and the covers of some of its publications like the cover of an Italian-Arabic dictionary that was printed in 1822, the cover of “Lisan Al Arab” book that was printed in 1883, and the covers of “Qanoun Ibn Sina”, “Alf Lailah Wa Lailah”, “Kalila Wa Dimna”, “Soubh Al Asha” and “Mukadimat Ibn Khaldon” in addition to pictures for typesetting machines, stone dies and photographs for Egyptian Walis like Mohamed Ali Pasha, Ibrahim Pasha, Abbas Helmi, Muhammad Said and Khedive Ismail.
Dr. Ismail Siraj Al Din confirmed in the introduction he wrote for the book that Boulaq was the first press owned by the Egyptian government and it helped in making a qualitative step but also a quantitative and cognitive one in the Arab World.
It is worth mentioning that ME Printer has devoted some of its pages in this issue in the Success Story section to present a special report about Boulaq Press and its latest achievement, which is the purchase of a Compacta C 215 from KBA.