Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-15
IN TURKISH TONGUE
Translation of Bible Issued by
American Missionaries.
PRINTING PRESS VALUABLE
Slow Progress in Sultan's Land
Without Publication Facilities.
MILLIONS OF PAGES SENT OUT
Two Publishing Houses Operating,
One in Beirut, the Other in
Constantinople.
PRINTING PRESS VALUABLE
MILLIONS OF PAGES SENT OUT
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM r.. CURTIS.
So>cisi Torrcspop,ienrc Of The Star and thc
Chicago Record Herald.
CONSTANTINOPLE, September Is. 1910
In the work Of the American missionaries
in Turkey as in other parts of the world
printing presses are of vital Importance
Without them little could have been &C
complished: slow progress would nave
been made There are two great publica-
ton houses in the near east, one under
the direction of the Presbyterian board al
Beirut and the other under the Congresa-
tional Church at Constantinople. IheE
are the most complete and modern PRINT
ing plants in that part of the world, rep
resenting an investment of many thou
sands of dollars and equal to any OF
their size i'm the United States The
presses are going all the time, turning
out an average of fifty millions of pages
each year in not less than ten languages
The output since the presses were es-
tablished in 1888 has undoubtedly been
as large as that of any other printing
house I'm the world, and. indeed. there are
few of greater age or better record.
The entire plan of missionary work in
Turkey at the beginning was based upon
the use Of these presses and within three
years after the first missionaries arrived
in that field plant was set up on the
Island of Malta to furnish literature for
Palestine and Turkey.
1t was considered unsafe to attempt
at that time to do any printing on Turk
ish soil, and Malta, being under the
British flag. was the nearest locality
where the presses could run without in
terruption. In 1888, the political atmos-
phere having cleared. the Arabic outfit
was transferred to Beirut in Syria, while
the Greek, Turkish and Armenian
1v~ oh in SYny-
ing the ten years at Malta more than
81 coz, 900 =; res were printed for the bene-
fit of GreeKs. Armenians, Arabs and
Turks. This included text books for the
elementary schools, which We're chiefly
translations of standard American edi-
tons. Then came the Bible, which has
since been translated and published en-
tire in four different languages and par
TALLY In several more and distributed by
millions OF copies throughout the east.
Bible in Turkish Language.
The Bible was translated into Turkish
and published at Smyrna in 1886. DR..
Elias Riggs translation into Armenian
was published in 1852, and his trans
Iation into Bulgarian in 1871. The Arabic
Bible. translated by Smith and Van Dyck.
has since been issued from the Beirut
press, and more than million and half
of copies have been circulated.
In single year the American press at
Beirut issued 152,5oO volumes of dis
tinctively biblical literature, with a total
Of 47.27s. 900 pages, In addition to nearly
100000 pages of text books and other
literature, making a total of $4,000, 600
pages from that one plant.
This other literature consists of hymn
books. school books of all kinds and Of
all grades. from kindergarten material
10 theological and medical works: picture
books for children. Christmas cards. Sun
day school lessons, story books. transla-
tons of standard works and several
original works by both native and Amer
The work of Bible publication has since
continued under the patronage of the
American Bible Society and the British
and Foreign Bible societies. until the
all Turkish. Arabic, Syrian. Persian, Ar
menian, Bulgarian and Greek speaking
peoples, and the New Testament. the
Psalms and other parts are available for
KurdS and AlbanianS. 1t is bound in
cheap form and convenient sizes. and sold
At cost. Very few copies are given away.
In Manuscript Only.
Although the Armenian claims to be
the oldest branch of the Christian
Church. yet when the American mis-
sionaries came they had only a few
manuscript copies of the Bible, kept in
monasteries or in the larger churches,
carefully guarded by priests who were
themselves unable to read the text while
the people were permitted only to kiss
the covers. which were often of solid
silver. Today. thanks to DIR. Elias Riggs,
one of the veteran American mission
aries. every Armenian can have his own
copy of the Scriptures, in his own Ian
guage. at nominal price. 1t is a sig
nificant fact that the editions are dis
posed of as rapidly as they are turned
off the press and il is asserted by com
hoS
more 10 unity and simplify the modern
Armenian language than all other in
huences combined.
The same Is true of the Bulgarian lam
guage There was no Bulgarian litera-
ture until American missionaries began
TO write il and the missionary presses
began to publish it. OF the first 100 books
in the Bulgarian language, seventy were
issued by the missionary presses at
Smyrna and Constantinople
The Kurds. a powerful and populous
element of the Turkish empire. had no
written language and no literature of any
kind until the American missionaries
created one for them, and translated the
New Testament into the local dialect
written with Armenian characters.
The Albanians had no literature when
the Americans came and 1t would not be
far from the truth TO say that they have
none now, except what the missionaries
have given them.
Koran in Arabic.
Although every Turk is Mohammedan
and the Sultan OF Turkey Is the recog-
nized head Of that faith, the Koran, the
Moslem Bible. written by the Prophet Mo-
manned, has never been printed In the
Turkish language, but remains exclusive
" in the Arabic tongue in which il is
written. but the Bible has been printed in
Turkish for nearly Seventy-five years,
and may be read today in its own Ian
guage by every one of the many races
which constitute the Mahommedan world
When the Americans first began to is
sue literature in Arabic the scholars OF
that race criticised the type which had
been made in Europe and was about as
perfect as English type would be il it
were made by an Arab. The Rev Eli
Smith. who was in charge at that time
realized that half the value of the Amer
lean publications would be lost unless
their typographical appearance met with
the approval Of the artistic taste of Mo-
hammedan scholars. The type did not
exist and IL was his duty TO create il. He
made models Of the letters OF the alpha
bet by copying them from choice Arabic
manuscripts and in 1886 he took them to
Germany 10 be cast. The voyage ended
in q shipwreck and all his work was lost
In the waters of the Mediterranean.
DIR. Smith. however. was a patient and
persistent man. He began again at the
beginning and did il all over again with
the greatest care, and fonts of type were
cast in the TauchnitZ establishment at
Leipzig under his supervision. After five
years of patient labor the first book was