Poland who had a poor command of Turkish and helped Mteferrika.37 However, there are also several indications that the two interacted through other media: There was probably an inconsequential attempt by Yona at partnering with the Mteferrika press, and finally, as Mteferrikas inheritance published by Sabev shows, Mteferrika had offered Yona a loan of 1770 aspers.38

A major aspect of printing was the engravings and here, we see Mteferrika in collaboration with an Ottoman Armenian, namely Mgrdi Galatav, alongside two Muslims, Ahmed el-Krm and brahim Tophanev, whom some scholars associate with none other than brahim Mteferrika himself. As his name sug34Y. Meral, brahim Mteferrika ncesi stanbulda Yahudi Matbuat (14931729), Ankara, 2016, p. 52. 35The text of this petition by Mteferrika was published in the unpaginated plates in S. N. Gerek, Trk Matbaacl I: Mteferrika Matbaas, Istanbul, 1939. 36Y. Meral, Yona ben Yakov Akenazi ve Matbaaclk Faaliyetleri, in F. M. Emecen, A. Akyldz, E. S. Grkan (eds.), Osmanl stanbulu IV: IV. Uluslararas Osmanl stanbulu Sempozyumu Bildirileri, 2022 Mays 2016, stanbul 29 Mays niversitesi, Istanbul, 2016, p. 799. 37For a review of these references, see Meral, Yona ben Yakov Akenazi ve Matbaaclk Faaliyetleri, p. 799800. 38Sabev, brahim Mteferrika, p. 381. 11 12

Hasan olak gests, Mgrdi was from Galata, across the Golden Horn39 and as Sabev maintains, he was probably not a permanent employee of the Mteferrika press and collaborated with brahim Mteferrika only when there was a need.40 Therefore, it is very likely that Mgrdi also worked for an Armenian printing press in Istanbul. While further research is needed on this topic, one may assume that there was at least some interaction between the Armenian and Muslim printing presses.

The aim of this paper is not to overwhelm the reader with a substantial network of multi-cultural Ottoman intellectuals by emphasizing their communal differences. Instead, it pinpoints cases in which the transcultural networks between these individuals fostered interactions for the process of Mteferrikas printing activities. To return to Wolfgang Welschs conception of transculturality, we can easily say that Mteferrika was not alone in having the following qualities: 1) networks with external cultures, 2) internal differentiation, and 3) hybridity.