BY BARBARA BREWER LA MERE
Selim Nahas describes has passion for
creating facsimiles and translations of 15th
to 17th century written materials.
“Some guys have a mid-life crisis and buy
a fancy sports car,” he said. Instead of that,
Nahas purchased one of the few available
copies of Hartman Schedel’s 1493 “Nuremburg
Chronicals” (“Liber Chronicarum” in
the original Latin), an illustrated history
of the then-known world, from Creation to
Schedel’s times with a view forward to the
Last Judgment.
Nahas, owner of Smith & Press, a press
specializing in reproduction of early printed
materials, is by day an engineer at GlobalFoundries, so he’s well grounded in contemporary
technology. But with a degree in
architecture and fine arts, he’s also interested
in the history of how people thought, and the
development of ideas over the years.
Nahas has an interest in making this
information available to a wide variety of
audiences, not just the privileged few who
might have access to the original texts and
the ability to read them in the original Latin,
Italian, Greek or other language.
Smith & Press, whose office is in Saratoga
Springs, specializes in translations & facsimiles
of 15th to 17th century books, with
limited production runs. The translations
are primarily targeted for the research and
academic community, and individual enthusiasts.
Its translation of the “Nuremberg
Chronicle 1493” now resides in more than 100
colleges, universities and libraries worldwide.
Nahas’ wife, Stacy Nahas, has a background
in finance. While the overall business plan for
Smith & Press may be Selim’s, the execution
of marketing, follow-up, and execution of the
plan, said Selim, belongs to Stacy, co-owner
of the business.
The initial facsimile volume of “Liber
Chronicarum” that Smith & Press produced is
a testament to Selim’s passion for historically
correct detail. It is made with a hand-tooled
leather cover to match the original and well researched
reproduction fittings and clasps
(whose purposes were to reduce wear and
tear on the leather and pages).
Only six copies were produced and are
no longer being sold. Due to the expense
of its production, it would not serve Selim’s
purpose of making ancient texts available to
a general audience, nor would it lend itself
to a viable business plan.
Smith & Press produces both facsimiles
and translations of early texts, including
Leonardo da Vinci’s “Leicester Codex,” complete
with drawings and diagrams and Italian
mirror-writing, and “Fasciculus Medicinae,”
the first known illustrated medical work,
published in 1495.
There are works of astrology and a highly
illustrated volume called “Metoposcopia,”
whose author was convinced that the lines
in a person’s face told all about his or her
character, and drew over 800 examples of
faces with such lines.
Nahas works with top-notch scholars
on the translations. The work of each is
much edited by them, including discussion
of intended nuances of the original texts.
Translations are printed face-to-face with
the original text, for comparison by those who
read the language, and are heavily annotated.
Selim owns copyrights to all of his company’s
translations.
The work is only available directly through
Smith & Press.
The Smith & Press office is located in Suite
202 of the Granite Palace at 358 Broadway,
Saratoga Springs. The phone number is 306-
4533. Selim’s email address is selimnahas@smithandpress.com. Stacy’s is stacynahas@smithandpress.com.