Earliest use of Renaissance Era innovations in Islamic countries & culture?

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According to Wikipedia the first ever book printed in the Ottoman Empire was Arba'ah Turim in Hebrew. The date is believed to be 1493, though there are some claims for 1503 or 1504. The printers were David and Samuel ibn Nahmias of Istanbul.

Note that the spread of printing technology through Europe was very rapid, and that by the time of this first printing in Istanbul, "the entire classical canon had been reprinted and widely promulgated throughout Europe." In that sense at least, the Ottoman Empire had already fallen far behind the rest of Europe.

Other early printing presses in the Ottoman Empire were in Saloniki, Greece, in 1515 and Vagharshapat, Armenia, in 1771.

By 1496 there was an established printing press in Granada, but judging from the names of the printers (Meinrad Ungut, Hans Pegnitzer) this is wholly post-Reconquista. This was, of course, not part of the Ottoman Empire but a separate sovereign state until its conquest by Spain in 1492.

The earliest reference I could find to use of canvas for painting in the Muslim world was occasional use in the Mughal Empire, for (not-so) miniatures. from sometime after 1526.

Note that the preferred canvas for art is made from (flax) linen, due both to a better final texture and the natural presence of preserving linseed oil. As flax grows naturally only in cool climates (think Flanders), this would have generally served to restrict its use to more northern (or higher altitude) climates.

The contemporary alternative, (cannabis) hemp from which the term canvas derives its name, is less expensive and grows in more southern climates, but requires more preparation and yields a less desirable (for painting, though not for blue-jeans) final texture.

Cotton remained a very expensive raw material for canvas until both the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, and the subsequent massive expansion of slavery in the American South.

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Let me add to the previous answer: printing press penetrated Islamic lands very soon after its invention, but for long time it was not used by Muslims. It was used by Jews and Christians in Islamic lands for their own needs, until 18th century. Even after that, Ottoman printing houses published only 142 books in more than a centiry between 1726 and 1838. You can still buy beautiful 19th century hand-written books in the antique book shops in Istambul. Islamic culture was reluctant to take any innovations from non-Muslims. Source:

https://sureshemre.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/on-the-late-adoption-of-the-printing-press-in-the-ottoman-empire/

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