Early Modernity and Mobility

“This beautifully written, extraordinarily original work is a major contribution, not only to Armenian history, but to the history of the book and to understanding the origins of both early modern commercial capitalism and the confessional identities that previsioned the modern nation.”—Ronald Grigor Suny, author of “They Can Live in the Desert But Nowhere Else”: A History of the Armenian Genocide

“This book is a probing and erudite inquiry into the nexus between cultural and economic change in Eurasia. It cements Aslanian’s reputation as the scholar of the Armenian diaspora whom all historians of early modernity should read.”—Francesca Trivellato, Institute for Advanced Study

“A tour de force of transregional history, bringing together intimately and seamlessly book history and the everyday of diasporic mobility to present a coherent picture of early modern community-making.”—E. Natalie Rothman, author of The Dragoman Renaissance: Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism

“Aslanian’s book hugely enhances our knowledge of the archive related to the global mobility of the Armenian merchant diaspora and its book trade. Its exceptionally rich analytical narrative transforms our understanding of the entanglement of Armenian and world history from 1512 to 1800.”—Khachig Tölölyan, emeritus professor, Wesleyan University

“A pioneering excavation of early modern Armenian print culture that draws on a rich archive to meticulously trace the collaborative role of merchants and churchmen in establishing printing presses in port cities across Eurasia and publish the confessional project of the Armenian diaspora.”—Kathryn Babayan, author of The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan