Book Review: Sabev, Orlin. Waiting for Müteferrika: Glimpses of Ottoman Print Culture (Istanbul: Academic Studies Press, 2018), p. 200. ISBN: 978-161-8116-18-5

The new study by Orlin Sabev, Waiting for Müteferrika: Glimpses of Ottoman Print Culture, published in the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Series of the Academic Studies Press, deals with the curious case of Ibrahim Müteferrika’s 18th century printing press. The title of Sabev’s study, which corresponds to the title of Samuel Beckett’s play ‘’Waiting for Godot’’, signals to the reader that the topic in hand is related to a complex subject, where the question of timing of printing itself becomes controversial. The title certainly prompts questions related to the position of a modern reader regarding the subject (Who do we perceive as waiting? Were they really waiting?) but also tries to solve the academic confusion regarding the issue of print in the premodern Ottoman era