European Predecessors of the Kazan Quran Edition

We are launching a series of publications dedicated to the printing of the Quran in Kazan. In these publications, we will explore the phenomenon of the Kazan Quran, the publishers and printers, the individuals who made it possible (philanthropists, scholars, calligraphers), and the impact of Quran printing on Tatar culture. However, before we delve into the discussion of Qurans of Kazan, we will first review how the Quran was printed in European printing houses in the 16th — 19th centuries.
The Arabic text of the Quran was first typeset in Venice in 1530 by the Italian printer Paganino Paganini. However, the typesetting was riddled with numerous errors, which forced the publishers to destroy the entire print run. Only a single copy has survived to this day (see the photograph).
In 1694, an Arabic Quran with a Latin preface was published in Hamburg at the initiative of the Protestant theologian Abraham Hinckelmann. This edition established several standards for Quran publications: it included information about the place of revelation at the beginning of each surah (chapter), introduced ayah numbering, and featured an index at the end of the text. For many years, this edition remained the primary source for European scholars of the Quran. In 1698, theologian Ludovico Marracci printed the Quran in Padua. His two-volume work, Alcorani Textus Universus Arabice et Latine, contained the Arabic text, its Latin translation, and commentary.
In 1834, a printing house dedicated to publishing the Quran was established in Leipzig. The publishing efforts there were led by the German orientalist Gustav Flügel. Over many decades, the Quran was printed there numerous times.
We have highlighted some of the most significant and notable attempts at printing the Quran using movable type. However, the history of Quran printing in Europe is not limited to these editions from German and Italian printing houses.
The first Quran in Russia was published in 1787 at the St. Petersburg Asiatic Printing House of Johann Karl Schnoor, under the order of Empress Catherine II and funded by the state. The print run consisted of 1,200 copies. We will discuss this in more detail in our next publication.


*Information provided by the State Budgetary Institution Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve
**Source: https://islamosfera.ru/pervye-pechatnye-izdaniya-musxafov-korana/