Int’l Confab on Ottoman Polymath Calls for Articles

An international conference on Ibrahim Muteferrika (1670-1745), an Ottoman diplomat, polymath, economist and pubisher of Hungarian descent, known for introducing printing to Turkish domains, is being organized by Turkey and Iran. Book House Institute in Iran and the Institute of Yunus Emreh based in Ankara are organizing the meeting, according to the website of Book House, Khaneheketab.ir. The event is titled ‘International Conference on Ibrahim Muteferrika: Book Publishing Development in Islamic World’. It has issued a call for submission of articles.  Synopsis should be sent to Muteferrika@ketab.ir not later than November 6 and should be less than 500 words. Deadline for submitting the original articles is December 6. The conference is slated for December at Book House Institute in Tehran. Exact dates and other details will be announced soon. Topics include an investigation into Muteferrika’s life, Persian literary works published by him, his compilations and writings, his contribution to promoting the Persian language and his role in and influence on the printing industry and culture. A Hungarian by birth, Ibrahim converted to Islam and entered the Ottoman diplomatic service. In 1727, he established a printing press on which he printed works on language, history, geography, and natural and physical science.