New Documents on the Armenian Presence and Printing Activity in Early Modern Rome: Marco Antonio Abagaro (Sult‘anšah), Bartolomeo Abagaro and the "Typographia Gabiana"

Despite the long-standing attention of scholarship towards the beginnings of the Armenian press, the biographical details of the first printers remain largely mysterious. This article focuses on the family of the second known printer, Abgar dpir, aiming to provide new elements on the life and activity of his son Sult‘anšah (or Marco Antonio Abagaro, as he was known in Italian sources). Based on documents recently discovered in the pontifical and Roman archives, I will shed new light on three key issues: 1) the career of Sult‘anšah and his involvement in the network of Roman printing workshops thanks to his hitherto unknown wife; 2) the demonstration that Marco Antonio Abagaro was a different person from his younger relative and successor at the helm of the Armenian Hospice, Bartolomeo Abagaro; 3) the fate of the Armenian types cut by Abgar in 1565.