This press is referred to in different sources as Matba‘at Diwan al-Madaris (The Schools Office Press), Matba‘at al-Madaris (The Schools Press), and Matba‘at Diwan al-Madaris al-Mulkiya (The Civil Schools Office Press). It has also been claimed that it was established in 1868, when ‘Ali Mubarak was head of the Schools Office. However, the first book to be printed there bears the date 1281/1864-65, indicating that it was set up prior to that date. The first scholar to mention a date of foundation for the press is Abu al-Futuh Radwan, who gives it as 1868, although he regards this with some doubt.7 It printed textbooks for school students, using both typesetting and lithography.
We have found clear evidence that this press printed six Turkish books. The first of these was written for the purpose of teaching Persian and bore the title Talim el-Farisi (The Teaching of Persian). In 1285/1869, it printed another textbook, entitled lr§ad-i mubtediydn der lugat-i Osmaniydn (Guidance for Beginners on the Language of the Ottomans), after which the press ceased printing Turkish books for a period of six years. In 1291/1874-75, it printed two books in Turkish. The first of these was Mehmed Sadik Rifat Pasha’s Risale-i ahldk (fi nasihat el-sibyan) (A Treatise on Ethics for the Guidance of Boys), and the second was Ahmed Cevdet’s Kavdid-i Osmaniye (Ottoman Grammar). Again, in 1294/1877, the press printed two Turkish books, one of them the third part of Ahmed Cevdet’s Kisas-i enbiya ve tevdrih-i hulefa (Stories of the Prophets and Histories of the Caliphs) and the other a school textbook.
World History
