UCLA to Hold Conference on 500 Years of Armenian Print

LOS ANGELES—From Nov. 10-11, the Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA will host an international conference titled “Port Cities and Printers: Five Centuries of Global Armenian Print” in honor of Prof. Richard Hovannisian.

From its origins in Venice in 1512, the history of early modern (1500-1800) Armenian print culture was closely entangled with that of port cities, initially in Europe and subsequently in Asia. In fact, virtually every Armenian printing press before 1800 was established either in or close to port cities, and the few that were not, owed their existence to ongoing relations with port locations. Yet, despite the obvious relationship between ports and printers, their synergetic relationship has thus far largely eluded scholarly attention. Convened on the quincentenary of the printing of the first Armenian book, this conference explores the intimate relationship between port cities and printers in the rich history of global Armenian print culture.

The conference, held at Rolfe Hall 1200 on the UCLA campus, will bring together an international cast of scholars to examine various aspects of the history of the printed Armenian book. It is free and open to the public.

Download the conference program by clicking here.