Reasons for the Late Arrival of Printing in the Ottoman Empire
Printing, which began to be used in the Far East in the 8th century, started to be used in Europe from the 15th century onwards, and was particularly developed by the Netherlands. In the Ottoman Empire, printing was first used by minorities from the 1400s. It is known that the Nahmias brothers, of Jewish origin, opened the first printing house within the borders of Istanbul in 1493 and printed religious books. However, the Ottoman Empire's establishment of its own printing house occurred with a significant delay in 1729. The first Turkish printer was Ibrahim Müteferrika. The Vankulu Dictionary, printed by Müteferrika, is also accepted as the first work printed by the Ottomans. The printing winds that began to blow in Europe from the 1500s unfortunately reached Ottoman lands after a very long delay of 200 years. Although religious reasons are cited as the main reason for this delay, the common point of agreement among researchers today is the low literacy rate. The strong thesis of today's historians is that due to the very low literacy rate of the public, handwritten books were sufficient, thus there was no need for printing and no demand, leading to no supply. Furthermore, the fact that many people within the borders of the Ottoman Empire earned their living through the production of handwritten books, known as calligraphy, is also among the reasons for the delay in printing.
Religious Factors in the Late Development of Printing
Printing was most widely used by Jews and Christians to print and disseminate religious books. However, the large number of calligraphers working within the Ottoman borders and their concern about becoming unemployed if printing was used negatively affected the development of printing. Moreover, the perception of printing by religious scholars as an "infidel invention" and the belief that it would have negative effects on Islam caused printing to fail to develop in the Ottoman Empire. However, given that similar events occurred in Europe, and despite them, printing managed to develop, it is not possible to attribute these negativities solely to religion in the Ottoman Empire. In addition to these, the high cost of printed works using the printing press and the poverty of a large part of the population at that time caused setbacks in the development of printing.
