The Serampore Mission Press was a book and newspaper publisher that operated in Serampore, Danish India, from 1800 to 1837.
The Press was founded by the British Baptist missionaries William Carey, William Ward, and Joshua Marshman, collectively known as the Serampore Trio,[1] at the Serampore Mission. It began operations on 10 January 1800. The British government, highly suspicious of missionaries, discouraged missionary work in their Indian territories.[citation needed][2] However, since Serampore was under Danish rule, the missionaries and the Press were able to operate freely.
The press produced 212,000 books between 1800 and 1832. In August 1800, the press published a Bengali translation of the Gospel according to St Matthew. The press published religious Christian tracts, Indian literary works, translations of the Bible in twenty five Indian vernaculars and other South Asian languages. However, its major activity was the publication of vernacular textbooks. The Press printed books on grammar, dictionaries, history, legends and moral tales for the Fort William College and the Calcutta School-Book Society. In 1818, the Press also published the first Bengali newspaper and magazine. It published books in almost forty five languages.
The press closed in 1837 when the Mission ran into heavy debts. According to essayist Nikhil Sarkar in "Printing and the Spirit of Calcutta", the Press merged with the Baptist Mission Press.
Gangakishore Bhattacharya, considered the first Bengali printer, began his career as a compositor at the press.