It can not be said with certainty where the first printing press was set up in Bangladesh. It is conjectured that the first printing press in Bangladesh was in Rangpur during 1847, about away from Dhaka. The first printed piece from this printing press was a weekly newspaper named Rangapur Bartabaha (রঙ্গপুর বার্ত্তাবহ) in August 1847. In addition the first two Bengali weekly newspapers were from Rangpur. Printing machines took more than sixty years to reach East Bengal or Dhaka from Kolkata. The first English weekly newspaper, The Dacca News, was printed and published from Dhaka in 1856. So, it is assumed that after nine years of Rangpur press, the first printing machine of Dhaka was established and the press was named 'Bangla Press'.
Dacca Press The printed edition of The Dacca News was released on 18 April 1856 from the Dhaka Press. In the beginning, it was a one-page edition costing two annas per copy. It was initially a weekly paper coming out on every Saturday. With the 13th version, the pages were increased to four and it also had a 'supplement' but the then current market price was cause of concern. With its second volume, the pages were increased to eight.1. see to The Dacca News file, 1856, quoted in Unish Shatake Dhakar Mudran o Prakashana There were five owners of Dacca Press who were also the owners of the newspaper. They were A.M Cameron, N.P Pogose, J.A Greg, J.P Wise, and K.A Gani.2.From the 'Proceedings of the Government of Bengal in the General Department, January, 1865, pp.4–5, from Unish Shatake Dhakar Mudran and Prakashana by Muntasir Mamun It was a tumultuous period when the riot between English indigo planters and Bengali peasants was at its peak. Most of the owners were zamindars and they published newspapers to secure their own interests. Alexander Forbes, the editor of The Dacca News wrote in one of the edition of The Dacca News:
Sreenath Dutta, a Bengali, was the printer of the newspaper till the 13th edition. Probably, Forbes had trained him. It was during the time that the printing press faced severe adversity, though Dhaka had been once the capital of Bengal and also one of the major cities of the East Bengal at that time. Forbes mentions in one of the editions of Dacca News of 1856 that he could not print a report due to the lack of necessary types.
Kattra Press
A Bangladeshi writer and historian, Muntasir Mamun in his book Unish Shatake Dhakar Mudran o Prakashana (1848–1900), mentions that he finds 'The First Report of the East Bengal Missionary Society. MDCC-CXLVIII with an Appendix etc.'. It was in octavo form containing forty pages. 'Dacca: Printed at the Kattra Press, 1849' was written on its title page. It suggests that printing press exists in Dhaka before 1856. Thus it can be said that the printing press first starts working in the year of 1848/49 in Kattra. Muntasir Mamun wants to mean Chhoto Kattra where the Baptist missionaries resided and set up their offices. So this report published in 1849 by Baptist Missionaries is the first printed piece. Two more Bengali books named Prahelika (প্রহেলিকা) and Prarthana Anukram (প্রার্থনা অনুক্রম) were from Kattra. Though Prahelika was the first Bengali book of East Bengal, it was not published completely in Bengali.
During 1847, Reverend Johannes Heberlein was in charge of East Bengal Missionary Society of Dhaka. Evangelical Missionary Society of Basel sent Samuel Boast and Frederick Lehman to assist him. Boast was skilled in the field of printing. Under his direction the first press was set up in 1848 in Chhoto Kattra which he brought from Basel. Graham Shaw speculates that the Kattra Press survives four years. Then it was bought in order to publish Dacca News. It is not known whether more were printed except the report and two books from there.4. From G.W Shaw's essay 'Printing and Publishing in Dhaka, 1849–1900, S.U. Ahmed(ed), Dhaka : Past Present Future, Dhaka, 1991.' When Dacca News stops printing, another English newspaper The Bengal Times was published from Dacca press and existed till the twentieth century.
Bangala Jantra
During 1848–1857, two more machines were brought to Dhaka but that did not make much impact on the slack business of printing and publishing. The establishment of Bangala Jantra in 1860 was a watershed in the printing history of Dhaka. Its proprietor was a Bengali. This changed things for the better because after this, Bengali books and newspapers were being published at a frequent rate. Following this, more machines were brought to Dhaka.
The printing press became an important tool of exchanging thoughts or opinions. The Brahmo Movement in Bengal played a vital role in the printing history. The Brahmos published Dacca Prakash (ঢাকা প্রকাশ) while the orthodox Hindus published Hindu Hitaishini (হিন্দু হিতৈষিণী) from Sulov Jantra in response to the former paper.
Abdul Qayyum quotes from the essay of Girijakanta Ghosh that the owners of the Bangala Jantra were Braja Sundar Mitra, Bhagaban Chandra Basu and Kashikanta Mukhopadhyay.5. Abdul Qayyum quoted from Girijakanta Ghosh's '1267 Shale Dhakar Shahitya', Dacca Prakash 29th Ograhayan,1325 Braja Sundar Mitra undertook the enterprise but there were other partners of Bangala Jantra. On the fifth year, one of the personnel of Dacca Prakash, Govinda Prasad Roy bought the ownership of Bangala Jantra and Dacca Prakash. After the death of Govinda Prasad, his son-in-law, Yadav Chandra Sen took up the responsibilities of both the press and newspaper. He continued only for two years and handed them over to Talukdar Babu Guruganga Aich Chowdhury of Charipara of Manikganj. Guruganga became the owner of Bangala Jantra and Dacca Prakash for just 3450 taka and worked sixteen years as its editor. Financial crisis led him to hand over the ownership to Shrijukta Mukunda Bihari Chakrabarty (B.A) and Radha Raman Ghosh (B.A). After a few days, Mukunda Bihari became the sole owner and ran it for thirty years. Dacca Prakash was still published in 1959 when it had as its editor, Abdul Rashid.
The first Bengali monthly periodical Kabita Kusumabali (কবিতা কুসুমাবলী) of East Bengal or Dacca was published from Bangala Jantra in 1860. The editor was none other the poet, Krishna Chandra Mazumdar. But the publication of the said periodical stopped in 1860. In that very year a monthly named Nababyabohar Sanghita (নবব্যবহার সংহিতা) edited by lawyer Ramchandra Bhowmick was published from Bangala Jantra. Deenabandhu Mitra's Neel Darpan also came out from Bangala Jantra in 1860.
Other printing machines
In 1862, another machine named 'Nutan Jantra' was brought to Dhaka but the name of the owner remains unknown. The monthly Abakash Ranjika (অবকাশ রঞ্জিকা) and Chittaranjika (চিত্তরঞ্জিকা) in 1862, were probably printed by the machine.
'Shulav Jantra' was set up in 1863. The manager of it was a poet - Harish Chandra Mitra but nothing is known about its ownership. The periodicals edited by Harish Chandra from this machine, were published respectively as Dacca Darpan(1863), Kabbya Prakash (কাব্য প্রকাশ) (1864), then there was a weekly called Hindu Hitaishini (against the Brahmo movement), Shuva Shadhini (শুভ সাধিনী) and Hitakari (হিতকরী)(1871). Many Dobhashi puthis were printed from this press. In 1864, Girish Chandra Roy of Baliati established 'Biggyapani Jantra'. In 1865, a weekly named Biggyapani (বিজ্ঞাপনী) was published by the machine, and was edited by Krishna Chandra Mazumdar. Biggyapani Jantra was transferred to Mymensingh in 1866 and within two years it was closed down.
In 1869, Girish Chandra Roy again put up a machine named 'Girish Jantra' in Dhaka. Harish Chandra Mitra (the founder of the weekly Hindu Hitaishaini), published a periodical - Mitra Prakash (মিত্র প্রকাশ) from this Girish Jantra. In 1874, Kali Prasanna Ghosh bought out the Girish Jantra. A monthly that was edited by him, wasBandhab (বান্ধব)which was also printed from there. Though a literary person, he was a skilled businessman as well. Within a few days, Girish Jantra made its mark on the printing industry. Most of the books from Dhaka were printed from it and it did survive for a long time. Foyezunnesa Chowdhurani's Rupjalal (রূপজালাল)(1876) was also printed from the Girish Jantra.
The Brahmos, Hindus, Europeans initiated the printing project in Dhaka in the 1870s and the Muslims later entered the market. The latter mainly printed puthis. According to Professor Qayyum, 'Mohammadi Jantra' was the first Muslim Printing Press of Dhaka, situated at Fazle Ali Bazar near Begum Bazar. Munshi Mohammad Jan was its owner. In 1878–79, 'Sayedi Jantra was set up in the same place with Abul Baset as its owner. 'Azizia Press' (আজিজিয়া প্রেস) was perhaps established in 1882 in Mogoltuli. The owner of the press was the puthi-writer Munshi Mohammad Foyezuddin. To print Dobhashi puthis, a special kind of type was necessary. Before the establishment of printing press, they had to use the press of the Hindus. Thus there were usually some spelling mistakes. Many puthi writers used their own styles to make the types and also warned others not to copy or imitate their works.
Exactly what kinds of printing machines were used in Dacca (Dhaka) can not be definitely said, but Dacca Prakash was printed by 'Chila or Columbian Press'. Albion Press was also popular in this time. These were made of iron. because of their good quality, Albion machines were the most imported machines from Kolkata.
Little is known about the expenses incurred due to printing and publishing of a single piece from Dacca. In 1863, an account of the expenses was found in an advertisement in Dacca Prakash. The advertisement stated the price of per forme of Bengali printing was six taka and per forme of English was five taka.6. Published in Dacca Prakash, 1863, such details are also referred by Muntasir Mamun in Unish Shatake Dhakar Mudran o Prakashana
Even after the seven years, the expenses remained the same even though the market was competitive. In the beginning, prices were high. But to expand the market, the prices of compose and printing were reduced. In 1880, the proprietor manager, Govinda Prasad Roy of Dacca Prakash published an English advertisement :
"THE DACCA BENGALI PRESS of various sorts of English Types and are ready to execute neatly and clearly. With Despatch and at moderate charge, Book, Pamphlet, Letters, Catalogues, Cheques, Recipts Labels, Cards and other sorts of Job works."7. Dacca Prakash,1880
During the 1860–70s, to bear the expenses of the press, various types of forms were printed for sale. Among these, the forms of invoices, challans, cheques and other mercantile forms were in demand. Even many of the press type forms were used as stationery shops where papers were also sold.
In the beginning, the compositors got comparatively higher salary than the editors because skilled compositors were hard to find. For example, the head compositor of Dacca Prakash received more salary than the editor - the poet Krishna Chandra Mazumdar.8. From Muntasir Mamun's Unish Shatake Dhakar Mudran o Prakashana, p. 43. From the twentieth century, the salary of a compositor started declining because of the competitive and expansive printing market.
Location
The various press of Dhaka were not centred or located in a particular place. Most of them were located in the areas between Banglabazar to Begumbazar. Apart from these, some were located in Mogoltuli or Armanitola. As books were usually sold from Patuatuli and Baburbazar, most of the machines were set up in these areas. The many press of Dhaka became a centre of socio economic exchange. Book-shops or libraries were not there then. All kinds of people like authors, publishers, editors, printers, compositors, workers, retailers and their friends - in short, all who were associated with the books, always gathered around the many press from Banglabazar to Begumbazar. Now some printing company are providing online service in Bangladesh.