Non-European cultures largely rejected print, keeping book collecting elite.

Evidence

The Ottoman Empire largely eschewed print altogether. The unhappy Venetian who presented to the Sublime Porte the first printed copy of the Qur’an was condemned for blasphemy. China, despite remarkable early experiments with woodblock printing, did not embrace metal type, for principally technical reasons. … But without the multiplying capacities of print, book collecting outside of Europe and European colonies remained largely an elite privilege. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 27

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how medium shifts (print vs. manuscript) shaped library history differently across cultures.
• QUESTION: Why did China’s technical obstacles to metal type prove decisive, and could they have been overcome?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 27