For ten consecutive years, the Bulaq Press established by Muhammad ‘Ali was the only press in Egypt printing Turkish books. The second press to carry out the same work was the Matba‘at Diwan al-Jihadiya (The War Office Press), which was set up along with the military college. The first Turkish book that we have established was printed at this press, in 1248/1833, was entitled Kanun-i evvel kavdid-i talimiye beyanindadir (The First Law, on the Rules of the Drill). We have discovered that between 1833 and 1836 the Diwan al-Jihadiya Press printed nine Turkish books, most of them concerned with military affairs. The third press that printed Turkish books was the Matba‘at Saray al-Iskandariya (Alexandria Palace Press) in the city of Alexandria, the first book in Turkish produced there appearing in 1249/1833, followed by three more. The three works produced during that year were Tarih-i Napolyon Bonaparta (The History of Napoleon Bonaparte) (4 Muharram 1249); Fulk-i Aziz (The Ship of Aziz) (16 Rabi‘ al-Awwal 1249); and Tarih-i italya (The History of Italy) (17 Jumada al-Ula 1249). After the books that were printed at the Diwan al-Jihadiya Press in 1251 and until the printing of Mebddi-i hendese (Elementary Geometry) at the Matba‘at al-Muhandiskhana (School of Engineering Press) in 1270/1854, the Bulaq Press remained, once again, the sole press printing Turkish books.
The publication of Turkish books continued for a long period at the presses established and subsidized by the Egyptian government. In 1275/1859, we find private presses in Egypt for the first time. In that year two presses, Topografya Destgahi and Qastaliye, each produced a Turkish book, namely, Tercume-i Mukaddime-i ibn-i Haldun (Translation of the Muqaddima of Ibn Khaldun) and Hidayet-i mubtediydn ve miftdh-i lugat-i Osmaniydn (Guidance
For Beginners and the Key to the Language of the Ottomans). The increase in the publishing activities of the Young Turks in Egypt, starting from 1895, led to a significant rise in the number of private presses that printed books in Turkish denouncing the Ottoman government. No one, however, has carried out a detailed study of such presses in Egypt to date and, as a result, we lack sufficient information on the dates of foundation of these presses, the names of their owners, the books that they printed, the dates they ceased publishing, or continued to do so but under a new name, and so on.1
In the course of this study we have verified the existence of seventy-nine presses other than the Bulaq Press that printed Turkish books and newspapers. Only ten of these presses, however, produced five or more books. We shall attempt here to review briefly these ten presses in order of their appearance.
World History
