
Arabic Type-Making in the Machine Age: The Influence of Technology on the Form of Arabic Type, 1908-1933, Vol. 14
Tom Verde
Titus Nemeth
2017, Brill, 9-789-00430-377-5, $156 hb.
The first Arabic typefaces did not appear until the early 16th century. Yet with the demands for “international document exchange” in an increasingly globalized economy over the last century, it “comes as no surprise that Arabic [is now] the second most widely used phonemic script in the world” and “plays a leading role” in international communications, commerce and trade, Nemeth writes. His deeply researched, wide-ranging history of mechanized Arabic script in the 20th century examines its challenging entré onto the modern, printed page. Highlights include the introduction of the Arabic typewriter (patented by Egyptian Selim S. Haddad in 1899), that prevailed over the “major obstacle” of rendering Arabic calligraphy into mechanical type, and its earliest appearances on computer screens in the early 1970s via programs called Katib (scribe or clerk) and Hattat (calligrapher), “a reflection of their respective functionality.” This detailed study features numerous illustrations of Arabic fonts and early printed pages in Arabic.
You may also be interested in...
Nomadic Chieftain’s Biography Unveils Dynamics of Colonial Expansion
Historian Tetsu Akiyama challenges the narrative that the Kyrgyz were a “static and monotonous ‘traditional’ society’” destined to be subsumed.The Great British Bake Off Winner Nadiya Hussain Gathers Global Recipes in Culinary Celebration of Ramadan
Nadiya Hussain's diverse recipes highlight the global unity of Muslim cultures and cuisines.Book Deconstructs Myth Surrounding Egypt’s Most-Famous Boy King
Egyptologist Aidan Dodson sifts the evidence—from tomb paintings to statuary to temple inscriptions—in his quest to recover the real King Tutankhamun.