The Prefaces of the Christian Arabic Books Printed in Wallachia and Syria in the Early 18th Century

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Yulia Petrova

Published:

2024

The Prefaces of the Christian Arabic Books Printed in Wallachia and Syria in the Early 18th Century Dedications, prefaces, and afterwords are the constituent book elements established by the publishing tradition.They are conceived to present the book to a certain circle of readers and have specific functions.The dedication is characterized by an expression of gratitude to the persons who contributed to the publication of the book, the preface prepares the readers for perception of the book, focusing on its main idea and practical purpose and the afterword gives additional comments on the text and the history of its publication.At the initial stage of the development of printing, the genre features of these component parts of the book were not yet clearly formed.1A separate and very numerous group among the texts included in early Eastern European editions is represented by prefaces.Usually, participants in and eyewitnesses of the printing process tell about the emergence of a particular printing house, mention the details of the work accompanying the publication of the book (e.g., translation of the text or its revision based on the original), list the names of participants in the printing process, give instructions to the readers on using the book, etc.The study of the constituent elements of the first books printed by the Arab Christians makes it possible to trace the process of their editorial activity, the formation of book design, the development of structural and con…

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