1880s - 1910s: Kedai Kitab Haji Puteh

Kedai Buku Haji Puteh located on 52 Acheen Street, became a distributor of books published by Haji Muhammad Siraj bin Haji Muhammad Salleh al-Rambani in Singapore.

The genres that were published during this period include syair, hikayat and kitab. Many of the religious titles were written in Malay, Arabic or Javanese (pegon) script (Proudfoot 1987: 3). The period marks the gradual introduction of new ideas of modernity as well as register attempts of thinkers to negotiate the influx of new knowledge systems.

More importantly, unlike the manuscript phase, printing technology were no longer the purview of the missionary presses but were now owned by local publishers. This made it possible for the first time to circulate texts on a exponentially wider scale in terms of volume and reach. This would shape new attitudes in the religious reformation and would spread growing nationalism in the early 20th century. The ideological principles of nationalism and religious reformation would have significant impact on the Boria by 1920. 

During the first phase, the publishing activity in the Malay Peninsula was largely concentrated in Singapore. Haji Muhmmad Siraj is of Javanese-Arab descent and originated from Rembang on the Pasisir coast of Northern Java. Proudfoot (1993: 36) lists publications of Siraj from 1873 to 1918 with about 80 editions. Probably some of these activities were carried on under his name by his son(s) or successor(s). His publishing house and bookshop was apparently the biggest of all Muslim booksellers. It was located in 1883 at 44 Sultan Road (Lorong Sultan) in Kampung Gelam and since 1887 at 43 Lorong Sultan (Proudfoot (1993: 639). In 1891 he employed altogether ten persons in his publishing house (Hashimah 1989: 344).

Siraj became editor of the first Malay-language newspaper Jawi Peranakan from 1889-1891 which he used as a platform for the advertisement and the promotion of his books. After 1901, he seemed to have been not very active any more as most of his titles then were reprints (Proudfoot 1993: 40).  

After 1900, Muslim lithographic printing in Singapore and elsewhere in the Malay Peninsula was in decline. While between 1890-1899, altogether 99 titles had been registered by the colonial authorities; the number went down to 50 in 1900-1909 and only 12 in 1910-1919 (Md. Sidin: 1998: 80). The reasons for this decline include lithographic printing being superseded by an increased school book production in letter-print which usually had a better quality of printing, paper and binding as well as the book market was flooded with imported books, especially kitab literature from Bombay and Mecca sometime at the turn of the century. 

Nevertheless, the decimation of the publishing industry decentralised Singapore as a hub, and Penang in the early 20th century rose into prominence as a secondary publishing hub for Malay books.