Ottoman typography towards modernization: private presses, mass media and a new perception of typographic production

The typographic activities in the Ottoman Empire continued under the influence of manuscripts and focused mostly on book production until the nineteenth century. The private mass media that developed after 1860s, along with other transformations in the economic, political and cultural life, opened a new phase in typography. The production efficiency demanded by the newly emerging, fast-paced publications inspired a hybrid typographic system. Developed by the punchcutter/typefounder Mühendisyan, the hybrid system reconciled the conventional cascading type organization with the linear setting shaped by a modernist attitude towards printing. In return, the increasing prevalence of printing and publishing activities supported the development of a typographic culture. This paper examines the historical process of metal type from a strictly calligraphic nature towards a mode that permitted the punchcutter to take the initiative to handle a complex problem. By examining the dynamics at work in this transformation, this study attempts to illustrate the state of typographic culture in the late Ottoman period.