Symposium : "The History of Printing and Publishing in theLanguages and Countries of the Middle East", Paris, November 2nd and 3rd, 2005.

The first symposium on "The History of Printing and Publishing in the

Languages and Countries of the Middle East" was successfully held as a

three day special session of the First World Congress of Middle Eastern

Studies (WoCMES) in Mainz, in September 2002.

A second international meeting devoted  to the

same themes and hosted by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, will be take place in November 2nd and 3rd, 2005.  The convenors are Dr. Geoffrey J. Roper

<gjr2@cam.ac.uk>, as the scientific consultant and Sara Yontan

<sara.yontan@bnf.fr>  as the local organiser.  Further information

about the programme will follow shortly.

Some of the specific themes which may be discussed and developed in the

conference papers are again the following ; however, other suggestions

are most welcome:

- The origins and developments of European typography in Middle Eastern

    scripts

- The arrival and developments of typography in the Middle East

- The aesthetic and practical dimensions of Middle Eastern typography

    (design, cognitive effects, etc.)

- Lithography in the Middle East

- Birth and development of newspapers and magazines

- Aspects of descriptive and analytical bibliography of early and rare

    Middle Eastern printed material

- The history of Middle Eastern publishing, and the social, economic,

    and literary consequences

- The history of publishing Middle Eastern languages elsewhere

    outside the Middle East

- The art and techniques of illustrations in books and periodicals

At this early stage, we need to have enough indication as to the number

of people who plan to attend and better still who plan to present a paper.

An indication of the subject matter will suffice.

Sara Yontan Musnik

Bibliothèque nationale de France

sara.yontan@bnf.fr