The first printing of this important catalogue and price list of titles issued by the American Mission Press in Beirut.
Six hundred books are listed as being in print, each title is given in English and Arabic, along with prices in piasters. These includes scriptures and a wide range of religious texts (including Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God), educational and scientific works, grammars, dictionaries, natural history, literature, tracts and pamphlets on moral teachings. Special prices are given for purchases of multiple titles. The illustrations are as diverse as the subject matter of the publications, and include a view of the Evangelical Church in Beirut, which was home to the printing press and bookstore of the American Publishing House.
Founded at Malta in 1822 and established in Beirut a dozen years later, the American Mission Press produced hundreds of books for an Arabic-reading audience, not only for themselves but also for the American Bible Society, British and Foreign Bible Society, London Religious Tract Society, American Tract Society, Syrian Protestant College, Khalil Effendi Sarkis’ Press, plus private individuals. They advertised themselves as publishers and booksellers, but also as lithographers, electrotypers, stereotypers, music printers, stationers, type founders, punch and matrix makers (in Arabic and English type), map publishers, and capable of “artistic printing.”
Further editions appeared in 1896, 1900, and 1902.
Rare: OCLC locates copies at AAS, Princeton, NYPL, and McGill.
