Abdallah Zakher

Abdallah Zakher (عبد الله زاخر‎) (1684–1748) was a Syrian (born in Aleppo) and typographer. He was a Melkite Christian at the time of the Church's re-establishment of Communion with Rome and among other accomplishments he set up the first printing press in the Middle East.

His printing press used Arabic movable types and was installed in 1733 in the motherhouse of the Basilian Chouerite Order, the monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Choueir (or Dhour El Shuwayr, near Khinchara) in Mount Lebanon,[1] where it still can be visited.

Zakher was also an accomplished writer and craftsman.

References

Joseph Abou Nohra. "Les Origines et le Rayonnement culturel de la première imprimerie à caractères Arabes au Liban (1733)". Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2009-04-08.

Sources

“The First Arabic Script Printing Press in Lebanon”, an article by Pascal Zoghbi, with pictures from the Zakher foundry.
Tourist attractions report of Lebanon mentioning Zakher
Intro to book on Zakher
Jules Leroy and Peter Collin, Monks and Monasteries of the Near East (Gorgias Press, 2004), p. 122-123

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[1] Joseph Abou Nohra. "Les Origines et le Rayonnement culturel de la première imprimerie à caractères Arabes au Liban (1733)". Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2009-04-08.