Lebanese Maronites had maintained friendly relations with Rome and the rest of Europe since the Crusades. Maronite clerics went to Europe to study in Catholic institutions and a special Maronite school was established in Rome in the 16th century. In 1610 graduates of this school in Rome established the first printing press in the Middle East--at the Maronite monastery of Dair Quzhayya. Soon the region's first books were printed--religious and literary--helping to usher in the cultural revolution.
Atallah Mansour
The Narrow Gate Churches, p. 85
Pasadena: Hope Publishing, 2004
The first Muslim printing press? In Turkey in 1727, 121 years later.
