The oldest press of city, Basel Mission Press, 175 th Jubilee from Dec 4

The oldest press of city, Basel Mission Press, 175 th Jubilee from Dec 4

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Dec 3, 2016: Speaking to media in the city on Dec 2, Friday,  Karnataka Christian Education Society Secretary Rev Dr Hanibal Kabral said that the 175th anniversary celebrations of Basel Mission Press will be held from December 4. 

He said various programmes will be organised in a phased manner till December 2017 as part of the celebrations. A museum with the printing machines of the bygone era and the revival of the traditional buildings in the press are on the cards. It has also been proposed to install new technology and machineries at the press and increase employment opportunities. The society is also planning to start a one-year diploma in printing technology, he said.

MLA J R Lobo and Bishop C L Furtado will be the guests on the occasion.  He said Basel Missionaries started the printing press in Mangaluru in 1841. The first Kannada daily newspaper ’Mangalura Samachara’ was printed here. The press also has the credit for printing ’Dasara Padagalu’ by Hermann Möegling using stone printing technology.The press had also printed English-Kannada dictionary of Rev Ferdinand Kittel, Malayalam dictionary of Hermann Gundert, Tulu dictionary of A Manner, first grammar book by Rev Brigel J, first collection of Tulu Paddana, and first script description by Barnella.

He said that the printing press has printed Kannada, Tulu, Malayalam, Badaga, Kodava, Konkani, English and German works as well. It also has the credit of printing Bible. The Basel Mission Press presently called Balmatta Institute of Printing Technology has been functioning under society since 1972.

Future Plans  :  There is a also plan to procure latest printing machineries to the press by mobilising resources. A proposal for Rs 2 crore has been prepared for the purchase of latest machines. They are a colour photocopying machine (Rs 4 lakh), a cabin stabilizer, a UPS and an AC (Rs 1.25 lakh), a lamination machine (Rs 50,000), a lamination machine small (Rs 15,000), a spiral punching machine (Rs 10,000), stock of papers direct from factory for use sale (Rs 10 lakh), four colour offsets (Rs 6 lakh), a CTP plate making unit (16 lakh), a cabin AC (Rs 5 lakh), a digital printing machine (Rs 50 lakh), a perfect binding machine (Rs 20 lakh), a digital cutting machine (Rs 8 lakh), renovation of the infrastructure (Rs 20 lakh) and maintenance and running cost at initial stage (Rs 5 lakh).

As part of the celebrations, Basel Mission Press binder Pramodan will be felicitated.  He is 76-year-old and an expert in binding. He started serving at the Press in 1950s and continues to do so.

No reprinting of old books  :  Kabral said that the proposal for the reprinting of old religious texts, grammar books in the archive with the help of the financial assistance from the state government could not take off owing to technical glitches. There are nearly 80 books in the archives of the Basel Mission, including Paddana, book on plants and dictionaries, he said.