The Cuttack Mission Press and Early Oriya printing

Abstract

REFERENCES to early printing in the distinctive script of Oriya, the Indo-Aryan vernacular of Orissa, the region of India to the south-west of Bengal, are very scarce indeed.The attention of scholars has naturally enough tended to focus upon Bengal in the context of early printing in northern India, especially in view of the remarkable achievements of the Serampore Mission Press under the famous trio of William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward. In this article I have attempted to redress the balance a little by tracing the development of early printing in Oriya and in particular the setting up of the first printing press in Orissa itself, some of the earliest products of which are to be found in the British Library's Oriya collection, in the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books.