Ibrahim Muteferrika and the First Ottoman Turkish Press

Ibrahim Muteferrika (İbrahim Müteferrika) founded the first printing press in the Ottoman Empire run by Muslims and printing books in Turkish with Arabic letters. He and his partner Said Efendi received an imperial licence in 1727, during the Tulip Period, and their first book appeared in Istanbul in 1729. Although the press produced only 17 titles, it was a landmark in the history of the book in the Islamic world.

Who was Muteferrika?

Müteferrika was born around 1674 in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) in Transylvania, then a principality under Ottoman overlordship. He was educated as a Protestant, probably a Unitarian, though sources disagree. In the 1690s he came into Ottoman hands, possibly as a captive, converted to Islam and entered state service.

He became a müteferrika, a member of an honoured corps of palace attendants, which gave him his name. He served as an interpreter and diplomat in negotiations with Austria, Sweden and other powers and learned several languages. In the 1710s he was involved in Ottoman contacts with the exiled Hungarian leader Francis II Rákóczi, who later lived in the Ottoman Empire after the failure of his rebellion against the Habsburgs.

Printing in the Ottoman world before 1727

Printing was not new in Istanbul. Sephardic Jews set up a Hebrew press around 1493–1494, Armenians began printing in the city in 1567, and a Greek press operated briefly in the 1620s. Books in Arabic script had also been printed in Europe for Middle Eastern readers.

Muslim printing in Arabic script, however, did not take hold. Historians point to several reasons: the prestige of calligraphy, an efficient manuscript trade, the technical difficulty of Arabic type and concerns about printing sacred texts. The often-repeated claim that Sultans Bayezid II and Selim I banned printing by decree in 1485 and 1515 is poorly documented.

The licence of 1727

In 1726 Müteferrika presented a treatise, Vesiletü’t-Tıbaa (“The Means of Printing”), setting out the benefits of print: cheaper books, accurate texts and the preservation of knowledge. He was supported by Said Efendi, son of the ambassador to France, Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi, and by the grand vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha.

The chief mufti, Şeyhülislam Abdullah Efendi, issued a fatwa stating that printing useful books was permissible. Sultan Ahmed III granted the licence in July 1727. It covered dictionaries, history, medicine, astronomy, geography and similar works, but excluded the Qur’an, hadith, Qur’anic commentary and religious law. Proofreaders were appointed from among the religious scholars.

The books

The press was set up in Müteferrika’s house in the Sultan Selim district of Istanbul. Its first publication was a two-volume Arabic–Turkish dictionary, the Vankulu Lügati, completed in early 1729 in an edition of about 1,000 copies. Over the next years the press printed 17 titles in about 23 volumes, with print runs usually between 500 and 1,200 copies.

Notable books included a history of the Afghan invasion of Iran (1729), a history of the Americas called Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi (1730), Müteferrika’s own work on military reform and statecraft, Usulü’l-Hikem fi Nizami’l-Ümem (1731), and Katib Celebi’s great geography, the Cihannüma (1732), illustrated with engraved maps. Müteferrika added his own notes on European science, including the Copernican system.

The press also produced maps, which Müteferrika engraved himself, including maps of the Black Sea, Iran and the Sea of Marmara. Type for the Arabic script had to be cut and cast locally, and the work required skilled craftsmen. Müteferrika’s books were carefully produced, often with indexes and lists of errata, features that were new to many Ottoman readers.

Decline and legacy

The press survived the Patrona Halil revolt of 1730 and continued under Mahmud I. Output slowed in the 1740s, and Müteferrika died in 1745. Printing was resumed by others after his death and revived on a larger scale in the 1780s and 1790s.

Sales were modest, and some copies remained unsold for decades. Printed books competed with a well-organised trade in manuscripts, which many readers still preferred for their beauty, and the high cost of paper and type kept prices up. Even so, Müteferrika’s press showed that printing in Arabic script was possible and acceptable within the Ottoman state. It is often compared, with some exaggeration, to the Gutenberg printing press, but its real significance lies in opening the way to the expansion of Ottoman print culture in the 19th century.

Myths and facts

• Myth: Müteferrika’s press was the first printing press in the Ottoman Empire. Fact: Jewish, Armenian and Greek presses had worked in Istanbul long before; his was the first run by Muslims printing in Ottoman Turkish.
• Myth: Calligraphers destroyed the press. Fact: There is no reliable evidence of organised attacks on the press; it closed gradually because of low demand, cost and the founder’s death.

Timeline

• c. 1674: Müteferrika is born in Kolozsvár, Transylvania.
• 1726: He submits his treatise on the benefits of printing.
• 1727, July: Ahmed III grants the licence to print, following a supporting fatwa.
• 1729, early: The Vankulu dictionary, the first book, is completed.
• 1730, September: The Patrona Halil revolt ends the Tulip Period, but the press continues.
• 1732: The Cihannüma geography is printed with engraved maps.
• 1745: Müteferrika dies in Istanbul.

Why it matters

Müteferrika’s press marked the beginning of printing by and for Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, nearly three centuries after Gutenberg. Its books on geography, history and statecraft also reflected a new interest in European knowledge that would grow into the Ottoman reform movements of later generations.