The Early Arrival of Print in Safavid Iran: NEW LIGHT ON THE FIRST ARMENIAN PRINTING PRESS IN NEW JULFA, ISFAHAN (1636–1650, 1686–1693)

In the summer of 1628, a caravan with Carmelite missionaries Fathers Dominic of Christ and Matthew of the Cross slowly traversed the perilous, long stretch of desert extending from Aleppo to Baghdad and gradually wound its way to the Safavid capital of Isfahan. Among the pilgrims, missionaries, merchants, and the variety of commodities that no doubt accompanied the camels was an unusual object: a wooden printing press with “349 Arabic letter sorts as well as two instruments to set up the type.”¹ The contraption was so cumbersome and heavy to carry, remarked Father Dominic in a letter from Baghdad, “that