Crafting global typography: origins, dissemination, and adaptation of naskh types from Istanbul

Abstract This article examines the transregional life and typographic legacy of a 24-point Ottoman naskh printing type (MI-24), developed in 1867 by the Ottoman–Armenian punch-cutter Oḥannes Mühendisyan in collaboration with the court calligrapher Ḳāżīʿasker Muṣṭafá ʿİzzet Efendi. Celebrated for its exceptional calligraphic fidelity and mechanical refinement, MI-24 emerged as the pinnacle of Arabic-script typography in the Ottoman empire. Drawing on previously unexamined archival materials, this study reconstructs MI-24’s production, dissemination, and adaptation across a wide geography—from Istanbul to Beirut, Cairo, Tehran, Kabul, and even Chicago, London and Oxford. It explores how regional actors including Jesuit missionaries, Armenian type-founders, Arab Nahḍa intellectuals, and European Orientalists engaged with and modified this typographic model to suit diverse cultural, religious, and technological needs. In tracing these typographic networks, the article situates MI-24 at the intersection of Islamic visual culture, print modernity, and global knowledge circulation. Far from being a product confined to Istanbul’s imperial presses, MI-24 became a mobile and malleable artefact—reshaped by local aesthetics and political agendas. Ultimately, this article reframes Arabic-script typography as a dynamic site of visual negotiation and transimperial collaboration, contributing to broader discourses on print culture, design history, and the materialities of Islamicate text production.