C M S Press – The first printing press in Kerala

C M S Press – The first printing press in Kerala

C.M.S Press was the first printing press in Kerala. It was established in 1821 by Rev. Benjamin Bailey, a British missionary, at Kottayam College, also known as ‘Syrian College’. The college was a seat of English general education in the State of Travancore and is regarded as the first locale to start English education” in Kerala and the first to have Englishmen as teachers in 1815 itself.

Since the missionaries stayed in the residence of Kottayam College, they established the first press in Kerala at ‘Kottayam College’ now called as ‘Pazhaya Seminary’or ‘Old Seminary’ in Chungam, Kottayam. One of the reasons why Kottayam in Central Kerala, the first town in India to achieve 100% literacy, is known as “Akshara Nagari” (the city of letters) is that the CMS Press, the first printing press in Kerala was set up here.  The press was established at Chalukunnu, Kottayam on 18th October 1821 with a printing machine brought from England, by Benjamin Bailey, a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS).

Later he made a more sophisticated machine himself with the help of local blacksmith, and more importantly, moulded Malayalam fonts for printing for the first time in history.  Bailey cut short the number of types in Malayalam from 1128 to 500. He also made some changes to the ‘Koottaksharangal’ (joint letters). The letters used in Malayalam now are similar to the round form of alphabets designed by Bailey.

The first Malayalam book printed in Kerala, ‘Cherupaitangalku Upakarardham Englishil ninnu Paribhashapedutiya Kadhakal’ (Short stories for children translated from English) was printed by Benjamin Bailey at CMS Press in Kottayam in 1824. In the same year, the gospel of St Mathew was also translated and published. CMS Press published a Malayalam English Dictionary in 1846. Njananikshepam, the first printed newspaper published in Kerala, was printed and published from 1848 from this Press. C.M.S Press published complete Malayalam translation of the Bible in 1842.

CMS Press undertook printing works in Malayalam, English, Tamil, Sanskrit, Latin and Syriac. CMS Press was the first polyglot printing office as well as the first book publishing house in Kerala. Text books were also printed from there. Bailey also started English education in colleges and began formal education for common people. At a time, when palm leaves and feather pens were used, the printed books heralded a revolution.

The special cover issued to commemorate the Bicentenary of CMS Press features a colour collage image of the 200 years logo, a portrait of Benjamin Bailey, the Malayalam alphabet ‘Aa’, the façade of the press and the printing press machine against a beige background. The special pictorial cancellation is a line graphic sketch of the first printing machine of CMS Press. Special cover issued on 18-10-2021 ( KL/33/2021).