The Diaspora of Armenian Printing
2012 officially marked “Five Centuries of Armenian Printing” and an anniversary book, The Diaspora of Armenian Printing 1512–2012, was published. The book commemorates the printers, their books and their printing types from the first book printed in Venice to the present day. For technical and political reasons, all Armenian books were printed outside Armenia until 1771. The art of Armenian printing developed in major centres like Venice, Constantinople and Amsterdam, but also in many others around the world.
The book was written by John A. Lane, a historian of printing types, and contains a wealth of excellent illustrations. It accompanied the exhibition The diaspora of the Armenian Book 1512–2012, held from June to September 2012 at the Special Collections Library of the University of Amsterdam and from December 2012 to March 2013 at the National Library of Armenia in Yerevan.
The Armenian text is set in Arek by Khajag Apelian (and published by Rosetta), the English text is set in Arnhem by Fred Smeijers. It was carefully designed by Frederik de Wal.
4 Comments on “The Diaspora of Armenian Printing”
A detailed review (written by yours truly) of this important book can be found in issue #3 of the journal Codex.
looking for an armenian editor of poetry
Those fonts are a great match.
It’s a truly beautiful book, and well worth reading even if you don’t know Armenian: it’s almost a miniaturised history of printing generally, seen through one specific lens.