Abstract/Summary

This article offers an introduction to Persian printing and typefounding in Europe during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a subject which has largely eluded rigorous investigation by printing historians. More specifically, it focuses on the Persian typographical materials of the Medici and Propaganda Fide presses which are presented here, perhaps for the first time. Furthermore, this study questions the conventional claim by historians to date that 'Historia Christi Persice' (Leiden, 1639) was the first printed Persian book, and traces initial attempts at Persian printing that included an earlier publication, 'Alphabetum Persicum' (Rome, 1633).