@tntype @dbellingradt @BiblioWingate @dohanian

awesome find of the day: I discovered that 15 years ago I was a rather diligent note taker when conducting my doctoral research on Damascus, reading Arabic newspapers at the AUB library all day, everyday for months on end. Apparently, a local, water and steam powered paper mill was established north of #Beirut at نهر انطلياس in late 1882 by ثابت and باحوط. The official inauguration took place with much pomp in the presence of the Vali etc. in March 1883. In November 1882, the Jesuit weekly البشير even printed at least one issue on the new mill’s paper as a marketing device showing off its quality and calling on all printing presses and schools in Syria to utilise this local paper (also, of course, in the service of progress and the nation) .

https://gpa.eastview.com/crl/mena/?a=d&d=bshr18821130-01

#PrintingHistory #PeriodicalStudies

@tntype @dbellingradt @BiblioWingate @dohanian After running exiftools on a large number of digital facsimiles to compute average page dimensions and combining this ratio with the measured height of Arabic magazines found in library catalogues, it appears that page dimensions of 24.43 cm by 16 cm are somewhat close to Medium octavo after we account for some additional height caused by measuring the outside dimensions of bound library copies.

https://digitalcourage.social/@tillgrallert/115946913237198695

#PeriodicalStudies #PrintingHistory #الصحافة_العربية