The Nawal Kishore Press (also spelled Newal Kishore Press) was a publishing house founded by

Munshi Nawal Kishore Munshi Nawal Kishore (3 January 1836 – 19 February 1895) was a book publisher from India. He has been called Caxton of India. In 1858, at the age of 22, he founded the Nawal Kishore Press at Lucknow. This institution today is the oldest printi ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, in 1858. It grew rapidly between 1865 and 1872 from its modest beginnings as a small printing press, adopting modern technology and improved marketing, and engaging in innovative print ventures. The Press began to decline after 1890, when Nawal Kishore's successor was unable to keep up his legacy. The Nawal Kishore Press published books in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, and

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

on a variety of subjects, including: religion, ethics, literature, medicine, and history.

History

Munshi Nawal Kishore was associated with the

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

-based Koh-i-Noor Press from 1853 to 1857, and briefly served as an assistant editor and editor of ''Koh-i-Noor'', a Koh-i-Noor Press magazine owned by Munshi Harsukh Roy. When he was 22, Nawal Kishore moved to Lucknow to found his own business. On 23 November 1858, he opened a small printing press with official approval from Robert Montgomery, then Chief Commissioner of Oudh. From 1865 to 1872, the Nawal Kishore Press grew quickly, adopting modern technology, implementing better marketing practices, and undertaking innovative print ventures. Nawal Kishore's successor was unable to keep up his legacy, and the Press began to decline after 1890. When Nawal Kishore died in 1895, his adopted son, (1872–1926), took over management of the publishing house. Following Prag Narayan's death, the company passed to his son, Bishan Narayan (1898–1931). Soon afterwards, Bishan Narayan left the Press to his own two sons, Munshi Ram Kumar Bhargav (1915–1971) and Munshi Tej Kumar Bhargav (1919–1987). In 1950, following a rift between the brothers, the firm was divided into two separate book publishers, renamed the Ram Kumar Book Depot and the Tej Kumar Book Depot.

Publications

The Nawal Kishore Press played an instrumental role in promoting literature. It contributed to the preservation and dissemination of Islamic religious texts,

Unani medicine Unani or Yunani medicine (Urdu: ''tibb yūnānī'') is Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific. The Indian Medical Association describes Un ...

, works on Indo-Muslim historiography, and the traditional

and Urdu ''qissa'' and ''

dastan Dastan ( fa, داستان ''dâstân'', meaning "story" or "tale") is an ornate form of oral history from Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. A dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from ...

'' narrative forms. The Press also published, and produced translations of, Sanskrit texts, and promoted the '' Puranas'' (Hindu religious texts) in Hindi and Urdu. Through its newspaper ''

Avadh Akhbar ''Avadh Akhbar'' (or ''Awadh Akhbar'' or ''Oudh Akhbar'') was an Urdu-language newspaper founded by Munshi Nawal Kishore, and published by Nawal Kishore Press from Lucknow, British India. It was launched in 1858 and lasted for almost a century. I ...

'', initially published weekly, the Nawal Kishore Press also contributed to Urdu journalism. In 1877, ''Avadh Akhbar'' became the first daily Urdu-language newspaper in

northern India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

. The paper became popular, and achieved commercial success through efficient editing and professional management techniques. The Press also published other newspapers and journals. Over almost a century, the Nawal Kishore Press published some 12,000 titles. Approximately 5000 of these were issued during Nawal Kishore's lifetime; 3000 under Prag Narayan; and 2000 each, respectively, in the era of Bishan Narayan then of his two sons.

Reception

Scholar Ulrike Stark comments that the Nawal Kishore Press played a pivotal role in the diffusion of

Hindi literature Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃś ...

during the latter half of the nineteenth century, as one of the first private Indian publishing houses to engage in the mass publication of printed books in Hindi.

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Nawal Kishore Press Bibliography

Books by Nawal Kishore Press
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{Authority control Book publishing companies of India Publishing companies established in 1858 Defunct book publishing companies Indian companies established in 1858