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The Story of the Armenian Alphabet. Part 1: historical summary

This research traces the development of type for the printing of Armenian books as printers attempted to set up presses to print in Armenian, which wasn’t possible in Armenia until the late eighteenth century, due to political oppression.

An interview with the Director of the Matenadaran Library (Yerevan), Arshak Banuchian, encouraged Puzzovio to bring together scattered information about the lineage of Armenian type production. Following initial British Library research and interview with Dr. Vrej Nersessian, Curator of the Christian Middle East Section, which has a limited collection, it became clear that although collections of books and manuscripts exist, there was little evidence of the typefounding materials and type specimens. Puzzovio sought these in various museums and archives in Europe. Materials were examined and photographed in the Enschedé archives, Haarlem, The Netherlands; Plantin Museum, Antwerp, Belgium; Imprimerie Nationale SA’s Cabinet de Poinçons, Paris; the Armenian Mekhitarist archives, San Lazzaro, Venice, Italy. Interviews with the (last remaining) punchcutter Nelly Gable (Paris) and the elderly type historian Hendrik D L Vervliet (Belgium) revealed new insights into the origins of some of the boxes of historical punches found in Paris that had not been examined for over 100 years (and therefore never photographed). The Baseline Issue 57 article details the materials discovered and examined.

Significantly, there had been no illustrated summary of the history of Armenian type design and production published before. The choice of acclaimed international design magazine Baseline enabled the information to be distributed widely and therefore promote the alphabet of the Armenian people. The articles drew upon (unillustrated) scholary works found in the BL; the research in archives/museums and empirical research in Armenia (2005–9).

Puzzovio acted as a consultant for John A. Lane (2012) The Diaspora of Armenian Printing 1512-2012. This article is cited: Selected List of Sources (pp. 216).