Elements of Modernising the Typographical Printing Process in Bessarabia in the 19th Century

In the present study, we presented aspects of the modernization of the typographic printing process in Bessarabia during the period of domination by the Russian Empire (1812-1918). We used previously unpublished documents regarding printing houses and the installation of lithographs, rapid typewriters and hectographs in the cities of Bessarabia. The equipment and parts were brought from Western Europe to the urban centres of the empire, from where they reached Chișinău. By introducing new techniques and technologies, the process of Russification of Bessarabia population was encouraged. Administrative documents and advertisements were elaborated and multiplied with greater zeal in Russian. There was also resistance against this scourge. This is the case of the intention to print the newspaper Românul in Chișinău and to open a “Moldovan Printing House” by the boyar Constantin Cristea. The regional administration of Bessarabia opposed the appearance of newspapers in Romanian and the printing house of the boyar Constantin Cristea, who would have printed in Romanian.

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