Matn Pressمنشورات متن
Matn1 is the main text of a page, the part that is read first. In the old Arabic books a commentary was written round it, and round the commentary the glosses,2 in the margins and in a smaller hand. Matn Press publishes Arabic works that have fallen out of reach, in carefully made editions in a series called Hawamish,3 and it publishes the books of Tarek Gara.
Hawamish 1 · In preparation
فتاة مصرFatat Misr
Ya’qub Sarruf · Cairo, 1905
A novel that opens in London, in the house of a newspaper owner, and moves to Cairo. It ran in parts in al-Muqtataf and sold out as a book within its first year. There is no readable text of it online.
The series Hawamish
The series: how a text is taken from an early printing and edited for reading.
TypesettingThe House Style
The page, the notes in the margin, Arabic justified by kashida, and books with two fronts.
The Seal
Four متن round a page, drawn on one grid.
Tarek Gara
Novels and poems, in English, under the Matn imprint.
The Arabic begins at the other cover.