Translation, Paratext and Knowledge Production in the Arab Nahda The Arab Nahda is commonly regarded as a translational moment of history. Nahda intellectuals involved in translation did not view it as separate from their general intellectual activity; rather, translation was an integral part. Their engagement took place in specific historical and sociopolitical conditions and was framed by the ideologies of the network of agents involved in translation. These agents, particularly translators themselves, not only translated texts but also produced various writings about their translation practice and source texts, notably in the form on paratextual materials (introductions, footnotes etc.). In these paratexts, they critically engaged with original texts and their representation in the target culture, positioned themselves ideologically, critically reflected on their translation experience, fuelled debates, and contributed to knowledge production. While translation movement has been one of the pivotal questions in Nahda studies, attention has been predominantly given to the circulation of texts and genres (novels, theatre plays), with less coverage of paratexts and their implications for shaping intellectual thought. This study explores the paratexts of translations by Nahda intellectuals (Jurji Zaydan, Farah Antun, Ibrahim al-Yaziji, Muhammad Uthman Jalal, Hafez Ibrahim) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to examine how these writings became a frame for theorizing translation and sites for intellectual debates that extended to other fields of thought. Thus, paratexts are regarded as a place for the visibility of translators and their agency and as documentary source or the evidence of the socio-cultural contexts in which translations were produced. By considering paratexts texts in their own right, this research addresses questions such as: What do the Nahda intellectuals discuss in paratexts, and why? How do they position themselves? Do they reflect about the selection of texts? What do these reflections tell us about the translators’ interpretations of the texts, their ways of mediation of translation reception and creation of specific images of foreign authors, literatures, ideas? What motivation underlies this image-formation? Which other intellectual debates and concerns do the translation paratexts engage with? How can these paratexts be situated within the broader framework of the Nahda project and how would they inform our understanding of it? Exploring the Nahda from the lens of translation paratexts contributes to reconstructing Arabic translation history and, more broadly, the history of intellectual thought of the Nahda in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.