Speaker Details
Prof
Geoffrey Roper
University of Cambridge (retired)
United Kingdom
Biography:
Dr Geoffrey Roper is an international bibliographical and information consultant, specialising in the Middle East and Muslim world. He was from 1982 to 2003 head of the Islamic Bibliography Unit at the University of Cambridge, and editor of Index Islamicus, the major current comprehensive bibliography and search tool for publications on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world. He has also been editor of Al-Furqān Foundation’s World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts, Chairman of the Middle East Libraries Committee (MELCOM-UK) and contributor to various reference works. He has researched, written and lectured extensively on bibliography and the history of the book in the Muslim world, has curated exhibitions on the subject at Cambridge University Library and the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, and has been a convener of all three of the previous Symposia on the History of Printing and Publishing in the Languages and Countries of the Middle East (Mainz 2002, Paris 2005, Leipzig 2008).
Presentation Abstract:
Printed matter in Egypt before the Būlāq Press: The state press of Muḥammad ‘Alī, established in Būlāq in 1819/20, is generally, and rightly, regarded as the first major printing establishment in Egypt, and the pioneer of the print revolution there. But Egyptian printing did not begin at Būlāq, and printed books were not unknown to Egyptians before 1822, when the first Būlāq edition appeared. This paper presents a survey of earlier printing in the country in different eras; it also considers the import into Egypt of printed books from Europe up to the 1820s.
Status: Confirmed