Abdallah Zakher

Abdallah Zakher (Arabic: عبدالله الزاخر, romanized: ʻabd Allāh az-Zāḵir; [ʕabdallaːh azzaːxir]) (1684–1748) was a Syrian-born (in Aleppo) typographer and Catholic deacon who set up the first printing press in the Middle East.

His printing press used Arabic movable type and was installed in 1733 in the motherhouse of the Basilian Chouerite Order, the monastery of Saint John the Baptist at El Khenchara in Mount Lebanon,^[1] where it still can be visited.

Zakher was also an accomplished writer and craftsman. He was a Melkite Christian at the time of the Church's reaffirmation of communion with the Catholic Church.