Prefaces to 18th-Century Christian Arabic Books

The Arabic-language and Arabic-type presses established in Eastern Europe and the Middle East beginning in the early 18th century produced a number of books for the needs of Arabic-speaking Christians living in the Ottoman provinces. These books included liturgical texts, homilies, didactic treatises, and dogmatic teachings and were often accompanied by complementary prefaces and editor’s final remarks. In some cases, these texts are the main source of information on the circumstances of the beginning of Arabic printing for the Christians of the Middle East. This volume presents new editions of these Arabic prefaces together with English translations and commentary. The corpus includes Christian Arabic books printed throughout the 18th century in Wallachia (Snagov and Bucharest), Moldavia (Ia?i), Aleppo, Beirut, and the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Khenchara (Dhur al-Shuwayr, Mount Lebanon). Studying the features of these books makes it possible to trace the process of their editorial activity, the evolution of book design, the influence of European Baroque and also Classical Arabic literature, and the language particularities of the Christian Arabic in the 18th century Greater Syria.