Arabic Printed Books in the Library of the Romanian Academy of Bucharest

Printing in Arabic type, in the Arabic language, began in Western European presses at the end of the 16ᵗʰ century, with books intended for sale on the Eastern markets and for missionary work. However, in the Near East, where the public of such Arabic books lived, the first Arabic press was opened in 1705, in the Ottoman era. The Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest holds eight Arabic texts that were printed in the Romanian Principalities and Greater Syria in the first half of the 18ᵗʰ century, for the benefit of the Arabic-speaking Christians. These books form a small but quite important collection, considering that larger libraries around the world only hold two or three of the Arabic books printed before 1800. I have addressed the history, contents, and book-art features of these books in several articles, most of them accessible online.82 In this contribution, I am focusing on the early printed Arabic books that are preserved in Bucharest and their history as library items. While doing this, I shall demonstrate their value and significance for Middle Eastern printing, and particularly for the history of the first Arabic presses.