Talk:Hortus Malabaricus

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A fact from Hortus Malabaricus appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 26 December 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Hortus Malabaricus, the earliest printed treatise on the flora in Asia, contains the first instances of Malayalam types being used for printing?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/December.

Wikipedia

The first instance of Malayalam type being used for printing

Which is “the first instance of Malayalam type being used for printing” may be disputed. Robin Jeffrey says that, Benjamin Bailey, founder of the Church Missionary Society press in Kottayam in 1821, was less flamboyant, but cut the first Malayalam types in Kerala, built a wooden press to complement the original press imported from Britain and compiled an English-Malayalam dictionary and According to Bishop Thomas Mar Themotheos, president, Kerala Auxiliary of the Society, the history of Malayalam bible is closely linked to the evolution of Malayalam printing and print language and even the evolution of the script. The first four books of the New Testament were translated into Malayalam in the early 19th century. In the absence of Malayalam fonts, one of the translators, Thimmappilla, had to go all the way to Bombay to cast Malayalam fonts. He completed the printing in 1811. Again, Dr. Bailey had to create his own wooden press to print his version of the Gospel according to Mathew in 1825. Perhaps, these two are not contradictory at all ( Bailey cut it in Kerala, Thimmappilla did it from Bombay) Wikipedia article has a dubious assertion that The first work published in Europe on Malayalam is Alphabetum grandonico-malabaricum sive samscrudonicum, published in 1772. The types were prepared by Clemente Peani, while the references given in the article do not say anything about “types”. But the fact that Malayalam types were not used in the printing of Hortus Malabaricus should be obvious. The Malayalam letters were printed in it using the same technique used for printing skethes of leaves and flowers. One will have to go to a museum in Netherlands to see the plates. I will ask anyone from India who is supporting this claim to atleast visit the Sreemoolam Library, Thiruvannathapuram, look at the original book preserved there and apply some common sense. The editor who has inserted this does not understand what a movable type is and has either misquoted from a book or does not know what a reliable source is. ( Sreedhara Menon can at best write good guides for college students) El elan 09:17, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

First instance of Malayalam words being engraved for reproduction?

I am genuinely puzzled about the 'common belief' in Kerala about types being used for the first time for the book Hortus Malabaricus The subtitle says that plant names are given in 'Latinas, Malabaricis, Arabicis, Brachmanum', which are Latin. Malayalam, Arabic and probably Sanskrit or Brahmi, respectively. Yes, you will find names of each plant in these four languages, engraved, by hand, on the plates themselves. I have added a scanned copy of the book as external link to the main article. if there are no clinching evidence, the point about movable type being cast in Amsterdam for the first time in Malayalam need to be corrected Weblogan 09:05, 24 June 2007 (UTC) sorry for changing itti achuthan as thiyyar doctor .some body already corrected it to ezhava.it was a mistake sorry(Thiyyan (talk) 19:31, 20 April 2012 (UTC)) Why is it a low importance article? Amaljithh (talk) 03:44, 9 June 2013 (UTC) Why sorry and why to change Thiyya to Ezhava?, Itti Achuthan was perfectly a Thiyyan Vaidyar and not Ezhava. There was no Ezhava in Malabar area those days. The decendents of Itti Achuthan are still Thiyyas. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kmrn97 (talk • contribs) 06:06, 18 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]