Voskan Yerevantsi (1614–1674; ) was one of the first Armenian book publishers during the years 1640–1666. He published the Bible in Amsterdam on October 13, 1668, which is believed to be one of the best samples of old Armenian printing.
Biography
Voskan Yerevantsi was born in 1614 in New Julfa (Nor Jugha), the Armenian quarter of the royal Safavid capital of Isfahan. He received his education at New Julfa as well as in Echmiadzin. He was the son of parents who had been deported from Yerevan in 1604–1605 during the relocation ordered by Shah Abbas I.
At the suggestion of Catholicos Hakob IV, he was dispatched to Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic to take over the management of the printing company that Matthias Tzaretsi had established there in 1660. Voskan died in 1674.
References
Armenology Research National Center: THE ARMENIAN BOOK 1512-1920
Garegin Levonyan, The Armenian Book And The Printing Art, Yerevan, 1946. Knarik Korkotyan, The Armenian Printed Book In Constantinople, Yerevan, 1964
1614 births
1674 deaths
Persian Armenians
Armenian printers
Dutch publishers (people) 17th-century people from Safavid Iran Businesspeople from Isfahan