hand-written texts

Evidence

"Printed books were, at least before the end of the 19th century, not less expensive than hand-written texts, and this may have contributed to the long continuation of copying by hand."

Remarks

The document notes that hand-written texts remained economically competitive with printed books well into the late 19th century in the Ottoman Empire (p. 344). This economic factor supported the persistence of traditional manuscript production on paper, even after the introduction of the printing press in the 18th century (p. 344). Some 20th-century manuscripts were even copied directly from printed books for private use as teaching material (p. 344).