THE POPULAR PRESS HOLDINGS IN THE MIDDLE EAST DEPARTMENT JOSEPH REGENSTEIN LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Introduction: Survey of the Popular Press in the Islamic World 1 I. Arabic 25 II. Armenian, Azeri, Georgian, Kurdish and Russian 44 III. English, French and Hebrew 46 IV. Persian 54 V. Ottoman / Turkish 107 Appendices: 163 Persian Newspapers published in India, Middle Eastern Newspapers at CRL, Middle Eastern Newspapers Currently Received by the Library Official Gazettes in the Middle East Department Select bibliographies are included at the end of each section. Though compilation of this list was stopped in the mid­1990s, we believe it remains useful to library patrons as it contains information about materials that are not in the library catalog and thus can be found no other way. In the years since, new materials have been acquired, some uncataloged materials have been cataloged, and some items have been moved. It is important to communicate with the Middle East Department to determine how to access materials—especially those listed as uncataloged. For further information, please consult a staff member in the Middle East Department office, JRL 560 (open Monday through Friday, 9AM to 5PM), or contact Marlis Saleh (details at http://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/mideast). Middle Eastern Popular Press 1 1. INTRODUCTION: SURVEY OF THE POPULAR PRESS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD. Background: The introduction of a popular newspaper and serial press to the Islamic world came with the introduction of the western newspaper form itself, in part a product of 18th century European, particularly French, influence on the Ottoman government in Istanbul, and Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798­1801. The rapid development of newspaper and serial publications in the Islamic world reflects the growing local sense of awareness of European culture, nationalism, and popular interest in political and cultural affairs on a public level which characterized the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (Brief accessible surveys of the popular press in the Islamic world are to be found in the article "Djarida" in the first and second editions of the Encyclopedia of Islam, and in the article "Basın" in the Türk Ansiklopedisi.) The relatively late adoption of moveable­type printing by the Arabs, Persians, and Turks is an interesting chapter in the history of printing and book production, a history in which the Islamic world had earlier played a critical role. The craft of paper­making came to Europe by way of the Islamic World. The Arabs may have acquired the technique from Chinese prisoners taken at Samarkand by the Arabs in 704. Eventually papermaking spread into Europe through Muslim Spain sometime during the 13th and 14th centuries. Undoubtedly one of the most literary of the world's cultures, large numbers of books and documents were produced on paper by scribes in the Islamic world from the early centuries of Islam. Yet when printing technology finally reached the Middle East it was initially slow to take hold and spread. Block printing in the Islamic world dates from the 10th century and, like paper­making, came first to the Middle East, and was introduced from there to Europe. Use of wood­block printing in the Islamic world seems to have been only sporadic however, limited to brief portions of the Koran, some official communications, playing cards, and one instance of paper money during Ilkhanid rule in Iran. Moveable metal type was a European invention later introduced into the Islamic world via European­language presses established first in İstanbul in the 15th­16th century. A Koran was printed in Venice between 1485­1499. Non­Muslim religious minorities established non­Arabic script presses, and produced the first printed texts in the Ottoman Empire. Various explanations have been advanced to explain the relative lateness of the acceptance of Arabic­script printing in the Muslim World including a belief in the religious importance of the Arabic script itself, and the possibility of a monopoly held by the scribal class. The first Arabic­script press in the Middle East was established in İstanbul by Ibrāḥīm Müteferrika, who produced a number of books during the eighteenth century. By the end of the 18th century, the Ottoman government was aware of the use of the press made by the French government through the establishment of a French press in İstanbul in the 1790's, which produced official bulletins and communiques. In 1796 the Gazette française de Constantinople began publication, the first newpaper to be established in the Middle East. In 19th century Egypt and Iran lithography became widespread before the extensive adoption of moveable type to print books. It was the Europeans who first introduced the newspaper, on moveable type Arabic­script presses, to the Muslim world during the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt. The French brought out several French newspapers during their occupation of 1798­1801 and for a brief period printed, with the Arabic­ script presses they had brought with them, official proclamations and the first Arabic­script newspaper al­Tanbīh. In the early part of the 19th century French newspapers appeared in Morocco and in Izmir. 2 Middle Eastern Popular Press Popular Press in the Middle East: It was in the Egypt of Muḥammad ʿAlī in the 1820's that the publication of the first regular Arabic serial began­­al­Waqāʾiʿ al­Miṣrīyah (microfm. JQ37 RR5; UC holdings 1961­1966; 1970­ 1971). It was published at various frequencies in Arabic and briefly in Turkish as the official organ of Muḥammad ʿAlī's government and the sole newspaper in Egypt during the period of his rule. During Ismāʿīl's reign al­Waqāʾiʿ al­Miṣrīyah was published daily under the editorship of Muḥammad ʿAbduh (1849­1905). It attained importance beyond its role as an official organ, as a newpaper in its own right containing foreign news items and editorials as well as official orders and decrees. (Numbers prior to 1840 are lost; it has continued to the present day.) Similar official government publications began in Ottoman İstanbul in the 1830's with the introduction of the Moniteur ottoman and Takvim­i Vekaʿyi (uncat. microfc. RR5; UC holdings 1831­1849; 1909­1910), both in 1831, the latter published as the official organ of the Ottoman government until 1922, when it was supplanted by the new Republican government's Resmi Gazete (J7.T1A4 RR5; UC holdings complete 1922­present). The Ottoman government policy of establishing official papers in each province gave impetus to the publication of similar official gazettes in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Privately­owned newspapers followed the appearance of these official publications. The first privately produced newspaper, Ceride­i Havadis, was founded in Istanbul in 1840 by the Englishman, William Churchill. Published in Ottoman Turkish, it was mainly commercial in purpose but also contained articles and features, the writing of which provided an apprenticeship in journalism to a number of Turkish literati. In the 1850's private newspapers printed in Arabic were established in Ottoman Beirut, some with the backing of the Ottoman government. The first important independent Arabic newspaper was the pro­Ottoman al­Jawāʾib, which was founded in İstanbul by the Lebanese Aḥmad Fāris al­Shidyāq in 1860 (microfm. AP95.4 RR5; UC holdings: 1868­1872). It attained widespread circulation in the Arab world during the course of its lifetime, and was the first Arabic paper to attain world­wide circulation. The establishment of privately­owned newspapers marked the beginning of an efflorescence of newspaper publishing in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish in the latter half of the 19th century. These newspapers brought to the forefront issues such as nationalism, secularism, anti­colonialism and Islamic fundamentalism which were current at the time. They played an important role in the evolution of Middle Eastern political and cultural life, and remain a valuable source for the study of the history and culture of that period. However, expression of anti­government views often resulted in censorship and led to the closing of some of these newspapers, as well as to the movement of newspapers and journalists to more tolerant locations. Ottoman censorship brought to Egypt a number of talented journalists who played a major role in the development of the popular press there and, later, throughout the Islamic world. Journalists who had begun their careers in the Ottoman provinces of Syria and Lebanon were forced to move to the relatively freer climate of Egypt under the descendants of Muḥammad ʿAlī and later under the British occupation. However, about 1890, the expression of anti­British nationalist views forced the British to exert stronger control over the opposition press in Egypt. Egypt: In 1876, the Lebanese exiles Salīm and Bishāra Taklā founded the newspaper al­Ahrām (microfm. AN95.2; UC holdings: microfm. AN95 2) in Alexandria. Initially pro­Ottoman, it remains one of the most important and influential newspapers in the Arab world today. The latter half of the nineteenth century witnessed the growth of newspapers and journals in Egypt representing various political and religious points of view: Muslim, Christian, pro­Ottoman, pro­ Middle Eastern Popular Press 3 western, pro­British, pro­reform, and nationalist, among which were the nationalist Abū Naẓẓārah 1878­1910 (DT43 f.A32; UC holdings: complete 1878­1910) founded by Yaʿqūb Ṣannūʿ and later moved to Paris, al­Iʿlām, Cairo 1885­1889 (microfm. AN95 19 RR5; UC holdings: 1885­1889), and al­Bayān, Cairo 1897­98 (microfm. AP95.A6B4; UC holdings: complete 1897­1898). The bi­ monthly review al­Muqtaṭaf (microfc. PJ3; UC holdings: 1876­1952) was founded in Beirut in 1877 before being transferred to Cairo, and the pro­British al­Muqaṭṭam (microfm. AN95.30; UC holdings: 1940­1952), established in 1889 by Mssrs.