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THE GIFT OF
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1891
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Cornell University Library
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Makers of Hebrew books in Italy- bein^ c
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE
Five Hundred copies of this work were
ERRATA
Page 29, line 20, rej
JULIUS H. GREENSTONE, PHILADELPHIA, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND NINE
A a. -i . ^^n
Copyright, 1909,
By DAVID WERNER AMRAM
Press of
Edward Stern & Co., Inc.,
Philadelphia
INSCRIBED
TO
LEWIS W. STEINBACH
WISE AND SKILFUL PHYSICIAN
LOYAL AND DEVOTED FRIEND
LOVER OF HIS PEOPLE AND THEIR INHERITANCE
CHAPTER I.
Introductory.
Jewish —Jews Italy—History
Historiography of of
Hebrew typography —The "holy work" of printing
—Gutenberg and the Jews—Legendary antiquity
of printing— Hebrew types at Avignon, 1444
Schweinheim and Pannartz at Subiaco—^The Bene-
dictines 1
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
[ix]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
Gerson Soncino (1501-1512).
— —
At Fano Caesar Borgia Why Gerson went to Fano
— Gerson Soncino becomes Hieronymus Soncinus
— Lorenzo Astemio edits Soncino's Latin and Italian
books—Gerson's dedication Petrarca to Caesar of
Borgia —His rivalry with Aldo Manuzio—^The en-
graver Francesco Griffo and the Aldine origin of
types— His patroness the Lady Ginevra Sforza of
Pesaro — Gerson removes to Pesaro — He becomes
the printer Municipal Statutes—The death
of of
the Lord Pesaro and
of union with Urbino
its
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
—Bomberg's to Reuchlin
letters 146
CHAPTER VIII.
effect 168
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
Some Minor Presses.
Influence of world movements on Hebrew typography
—Bishop Agostino Giustiniani—^The polyglot Psal-
ter of Genoa — Christopher Columbus —^Trino
Jacob Abigedor of Padua—The Canons of
b. St.
Ambrose at Milan—The Jewish Silkweavers of
Bologna— Printing partnerships—Censorship be-
fore publication —The Roman Ghetto— Leo X.
Cardinal Egidio of Viterbo — The Hebrew Book first
CHAPTER XI.
The Quarrel of Giustini.ani and Bragadini and
THE Condemnation of the Talmud.
Marco Antonio —His Talmud Edition
Giustiniani
List of his publications—Rabbi Meir Padua and of
his edition Maimonides—The foundation
of the of
House ofBragadini — Giustiniani's edition rival of
Maimonides—The decision Rabbi Moses of Isserles
—The quarrel carried to Rome—The Roman
is
f xiil
TABLE OF CONTENTS
—The protest of —The burning of
Andrea Masio
the Talmud in the Campo—The decree of
di Fiori
the Council of Ten at Venice—The books of Judah
di Lerma and the heirs of Bomberg—The Papal Bull
of 1554—The death of Pope Julius III 252
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XHI.
Cremona and Mantua.
The Ghetto of Cremona —The conflict of authority
between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of
Cremona —Cardinal Michele —The seizure
Ghislieri
of books at Cremona—^Vicenzo —
Conti Duke Gu-
—
glielmo Gonzaga of Mantua and the Jews Joseph
Shalit, Meir the Scribe, Jacob of Gazolo—The
and
Ruffinelli —The printing of the Zohar
Filliponi
—The Council of Trent and the Index—The plague
and the end of Meir the Scribe—The Zifroni
Eliezer d'ltalia, Judah Samuel of Perugia and son, 306
[ xiii ]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
CHAPTER XIV.
The Resumption of the Press at Venice.
—
The press at Padua ^The new presses at Venice The —
Hebrew press exempt from the general decline of
printing—^The Zanetti family— Giorgio Cavalii di
—^The popularity of the law codes—Giovanni
Grifio — Giovanni Gara the "heir of Bomberg"
di
The fame of the Gara press—Printing then and
di
now—^The law of 1571 forbidding Jews to print
The blunders of Christian compositors—Isaac Ger-
son and opinion on index and table of contents
his
New regulations concerning —Sixtus V. license
Alvise Bragadini and Meir Parenzo —^The types of
Guillaume le Be 338
CHAPTER XV.
The Seventeenth Century and After.
The Vendramini—The succession of the
press of the
Bragadini—^The tribulations, of Jewish bookmen
The story of Leon da Modena—^The decline of Italy
and of the Netherlands—The perpetual inter-
rise
ference of the Venetian authorities and its effect—
The new presses in Northern Europe rise at the
expense of Venice —^The paltry output of other
Italian presses—Padua and Verona—The story of
Rabbi Abraham Saba—The decline of Hebrew
printing— Chieri and Asti —^The humility of the
bookmen—The Polacco family and the Foa
Sporadic presses at Mantua —The
Pisa, and rise
progress the press at Leghorn — Florence— Modern
of
conditions in Italy 372
Bibliography 409
Index 414
[ xiv ]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Adaptation of a Sabbioneta title page .... Title page
Printer's mark of Gerson Soncino Opposite 1
In the Scriptorium 9
The Pioneer Press 17
A page of Gersonides' Commentary on the Pentateuch,
Conat, Mantua, before 1480 33
Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara 43
Francesco Sforza I, Duke of Milan 55
A page of Kimhi's Book of Roots
Katorzi, Naples, 1491 67
A page from the Mahzor.
Soncino, 1486 75
A typical Soncino initial word 85
Initial words from Soncino's Mahzor 93
Medal of Aldo Manuzio 101
Title page of Kolbo
Soncino, Rimini, 1515 119
From Colophon of Kalbo
Soncino, Rimini, 1525 133
Initialword from Rabbinical Bible
Bomberg, Venice, 1517-1518 151
Page of Song of Songs from First Rabbinical Bible
Bomberg, Venice, 1517-1518 157
Page of Sukkah, First Edition of Talmud
Bomberg, Venice, 1521 163
Title page of Abraham de Balmes' Hebrew Grammar
Bomberg, Venice, 1523 171
Title page of Investigation of the World
Adelkind, Venice, 1546 181
From Elijah Levita's Massoret Hamassoret
Bomberg, Venice, 1538 195
From Asheri's Commentary on the Pentateuch
Dei Farri, Venice, 1544 199
[XV]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Title page of Pesikta Zutarta
Bomberg, Venice, 1546 215
IntroductoryPoem in Torah Or (Law is Light)
The Silkweavers, Bologna, 1538 231
Pope Leo X 237
Pope Paul III 247
Title page of Rabbi Nissim's Responsa
Rome, 1546 249
Title page of Rabbi Shem Tob's Homilies
Giustiniani, Venice, 1547, 255
Censored page of Yalkut Shimeoni
Bragadini, Venice, 1566 257
Pope Paul IV 265
Title page of "Honor of God"
Usque, Ferrara, 1556 281
Title page of the Book of the Grievous Vision
"The Partners," Sabbioneta, 1552 289
Printer's mark of "the partners" at Sabbioneta 293
Printer's mark of Tobia Foa of Sabbioneta 295
Arms of Cardinal Madrucci on title page of "Turim"
Marcaria, Riva di Trento, 1560 299
Censor's signatures on last page of Toaliyot of
Ralbag
Marcaria, Riva di Trento, 1560 301
Title page of Sefer Keritut
Conti, Cremona, 1558 311
Printer's mark of Vicenzo Conti 317
Last page of "The Custom of the Fathers"
Latif, Mantua, 1514 321
Title page of "Generations of Isaac"
Meir of Padua and Jacob of Gazolo, Mantua,
1558 329
From "Book of the Creation"
Jacob of Gazolo, Mantua, 1562 335
Title page of "The Way of Faith"
Pasquato, Padua, 1563 339
[xvi;
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Title page of Responsa
Zanetti, Venice, 1602 345
Title page of the record of the Divorce Proceeding of
Samuel Ventorozo
Cavalli, Venice, 1566 347
Title page of Sforno's Commentary on the Pentateuch
Grifio, Venice, 1567 353
Title page of "Health to the Soul"
Di Gara, Venice, 1584 357
Dedication of De Pomis' Hebrew Dictionary to Pope
Sixtus V
Di Gara, Venice, 1587 361
Title page of Cordovero's "Sweet Light"
Di Gara, Venice, 1587 365
Title page of Mashal Hakadmoni
Meir Parenzo, Venice, 1546 369
Printer's mark of Alvise Bragadini 373
A typical Bragadini ornament 375
From Yalkut Shimeoni
Bragadini, Venice, 1566 379
From Mashal Hakadmoni
Meir Parenzo, Venice, 1546 383
Title page of "Thrones of the House of David"
Rossi, Verona, 1646 389
Title page of "A token for Good"
Concio, Chieri, 1627 393
Title page of "Zophenat Paaneah"
Martinelli, Venice, 1661 399
[xvii]
Printer's mark of Gerson Soncino, Rimini
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
— —
Jewish Historiography Jews of Italy History of He-
—
brew Typography The "Holy Work" of Printing Guten- —
berg —
and the Jews Legendary Antiquity of Printing —
—
Hebrew Types at Avignon, 1444 Schweinheim and Pan-
nartz at Subiaco —
The Benedictines.
[1]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[2]
INTRODUCTORY
sciousness. True, they had never lacked the
strongest feeling of solidarity, which had led to
organized resistance against attempts made to
surpress their nationality, but these sentiments
of national and racial solidarity served only to
stimulate their religious faith and keep alive their
love of Zion. The scant chronicles of the middle
ages were mere genealogies, martyrologies and
records of persecutions * ; the loftier sentiments
of the hterati in the philosophical, theological and
poetic literature expressed on the one hand the
contrition of a broken people who believed them-
selves punished for their sins by their Father in
Heaven, on the other their longing for a return to
the Promised Land, if only to rest in its sacred
soil.f
Political emancipation, with its gift of civil
[3:
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[4]
INTRODUCTORY
last two thousand years t of the Hfe of this people
may find adequate expression.
The story of the Jews of Italy has never even
been attempted. The Jews of Spain have had
their Amador de los Rios, the Jews of Portugal
their Kayserling; the Jews of Italy still await their
historian. We
have such medieval chronicles as
Abraham "Book of Genealogies", and
Zacuto's
Joseph Ha-Cohen's "Vale of Tears"; but no
Vasari has recounted the lives of Jewish literary
artists, no Guicciardini has unravelled the threads
of ghetto histories, no Machiavelli has analyzed
the motives of their leaders. Even the chroniclers
are far too few, the biographers entirely lacking,
for Jewish writers were concerned with matters of
the spirit rather than of the body; they recorded
the ideas rather than the lives of men. Their
writings contain none of those detailed descrip-
tions and personal touches that make the heroes
of Plutarch and Suetonius live again for us, the
looks of the man, his habits, his way of speech, his
experiences and opinions; all those details that
give living interest to the flitting shade of his
memory. By the flickering rush light of a stray
reference, through a title page or colophon, an
approbation or introduction, we may catch a
glimpse of the man himself, but the real records,
if any there be, from which his personal history
[6]
INTRODUCTORY
long as they could elude the jealous eye of the
Church. Since the fourteenth century they had
attempted to establish congregational libraries,
but the constant persecution to which they were
subjected, and the ever grasping hand of the In-
quisitor, made it impossible to maintain such
collections until 1767, when Mantua appears as
the first of the Italian cities to establish a perma-
nent communal library.
From
these record rooms and libraries preserved
by Christian and Jew, lips long silent in the dust
may speak again to tell us the story of sorrows
and tribulations withstood and outlived, of am-
bitions vaulting to the skies but thwarted by the
bounds of intolerance, of thoughts surpressed that
might have leavened the life of a generation, of
impulses seeking to do the work of the world but
forced to expend themselves within the narrow
limits of the ghetto. In a certain sense it is true
that the history of the Jews of the dispersion is a
history of arrested growth, of dwarfed develop-
ment. Although their power and skill were used
by princes and ecclesiastics, no decent public
acknowledgment could be made of it. The Church
took away from the Jews what individual church-
men often gladly gave them, honor, wealth and
station. To-day the instinctive liberality of the
Italian character, nurtured by a most ancient and
unbroken tradition of culture, has given to the
Jews, freed from ecclesiastical restrictions, an equal
station as citizens. It is sufficient to say that the
7]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[8]
INTRODUCTORY
Emperor and Pope. Now and then they enjoyed
a temporary respite through the kindly influence
of cultured friends of learning and humanity, but
on the whole their lives were tragic with a woe
unutterable.
In the Scriptoriuin
[9]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[10]
INTRODUCTORY
out the press," said Joseph Teomim, " the law
would have been forgotten." *
The manner in which the old books were pro-
duced, the infinite care devoted to the perfection
of details, and the loving interest with which the
work was brought ever nearer to perfection, con-
trast broadly with modern methods, which, always
excepting books specially prepared for booklovers,
produce great masses of material inferior in style,
contemptible in thought, bearing the signs of
crudeness and haste and the desire for a speedy
monetary equivalent. Considering this contrast
we have another point of view from which to
understand the use of the phrase "holy work" by
the old printers; it was the medieval equivalent
of "the old article of Jewish faith, that things done
delightfully and rightly were always done by the
help and in the spirit of God."t
own and could touch its leaves and turn, and even here and there under-
stand the Latin of it, no girl of seven years old with a new doll is prouder
or happier; but the feeling was something between the girl's with the
doll and Aladdin's in a new spirit-slave to build palaces for him with
jewel windows. For truly a well illuminated missal is a fairy cathedral
full of painted windows, bound together to carry in one's pocket, with
the music and the blessing of all its prayers besides. And then followed,
of course, the discovery that all beautiful prayers were Catholic, all
wise interpretations of the Bible, Catholic; and every manner of
Protestant written service whatsoever, either insolently altered cor-
ruptions, or washed-out and ground-down rags and debris of the great
Catholic collects, litanies and songs of praise." A comparison of the
old Hebrew prayer book with its modern substitute, tempts me to
cite this opinion of Ruskin with much approval.
[11]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[13
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
ri4i
INTRODUCTORY
and discovery may establish an earlier beginning
for Hebrew printing for as early as 1444 we hear
of Hebrew types in Avignon, and there is some
record of a transaction between Procop Waldvogel
of Prague, and a Jew named Davin of Caderousse,
whereby Waldvogel taught Davin the science and
art of printing, and bound himself to give him
twenty-seven matrices for Hebrew letters; in re-
turn for instruction in the art of dyeing. Davin
broke his contract, and he was compelled to re-
deliver the matrices and to agree to keep the art
of printing secret within a radius of thirty miles.*
Quite recently the suggestion has been made that
Spain may contest the primacy of Italy in Hebrew
typography,! but it is very doubtful whether such
theses will ever be supported by indisputable and
unambiguous facts.
While Thomas de Torquemada, in an odor of
sanctity, was glooming in the Dominican monastery
of Segovia, preparing himself for that high ofifice of
Inquisitor General of Castile and Leon, through
which he became the incarnation of hell on earth
for thousands of so-called heretics, his kinsman,
Johannes de Turrecremata, was called from his
priory at Toledo to become Abbot of Santa
Scholastica at Subiaco, in the hills, forty miles
from Rome. Even he was elevated to the
after
cardinalate by Pope Eugenius IV, Turrecremata
preferred to spend most of his time amidst the
* Z. H. B. 8 46.
:
[15]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[16]
INTRODUCTORY
[17]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[18]
INTRODUCTORY
famous monastery of Monte Cassino as the home
of learning in Italy; most appropriately, therefore,
in the whirlgig of time, eight hundred and fifty
years later it witnessed the establishment of the
printing press in Italy.
A word about these Benedictine monks, who
saved Italy from intellectual barbarism the —
Christian Scribes who wrote and copied the books
in which was deposited the precious residuum of
the slow process of the thoughts of the generations.
Remembering the opinion held by the early Chris-
tians of the Jewish Scribes, the recorders and ex-
pounders of law and tradition,* an opinion reflect-
[19
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
*Hodgkm4 : 497-8.
[2o:
CHAPTER II.
—
Origin of the Hebrew Press The Work of De Rossi —
Abraham b. Garton of Reggio di Calabria —
Dr. Meshullam
—
Cusi of Pieve di Sacco The Garden of Pico delta Mirandola
—Dr. Abraham Conat of Mantua — Estellina Conat— The
Scribe and Printer—Abraham
the Dyer of Pesaro—Duke
the
Ercole of Ferrara— The Hebrew Press Ferrara — The Press
at
of Caravita Bologna—Jewish Booksellers
at Uni- at the
versities.
[21]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
the land of all lands where the new art could yield
its richest fruits. In Spain and Portugal Hebrew
typography was throttled in its cradle by the hand
of ecclesiastical bigotry. In Turkey it flourished
though form under the benevolent
in less perfect
protection of the Crescent. Rapidly the new art
spread through Germany and the Slavic lands,
through Holland France and England, in all the
great cities of the world, even in old time-worn
Jerusalem;* but for beauty and artistic perfection
we must always go back to the productions of the
early Italian printers.
Of the men that saw the first cradle books,
precious incunabula, fresh and new from the press,
we know the names and after that, nothing.
Abraham ben Garton ben Isaac of Reggio di Cala-
bria, and MeshuUam Cusi of Pieve di Sacco, have
inscribed their names in the single book that each
of them has left us. Who were they, of what fam-
ily, what led them to engage in the "holy work,"
[22]
THE PIONEERS
who were their patrons and what their success?
Perhaps the Inquisition has forever buried the
answer in the ashes of its fires, perhaps there lies
some sybiUine leaf in the darkness of an archive
from which some future searcher may yet wrest
its secret.
[23]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[24]
THE PIONEERS
to spread and multiply knowledge among Israel,
by that new process whereby the immehiorial
impulse "to make books, many, without ^nd, of
the books of the law of God" should find a new
and better method of expression. While the Jews
of Trent were passing days, and nights of terror,
facing the blind fury of the Franciscan monk
Bernardino da Feltre, whose insane fanaticism
made a saint of a drowned peasant child; while
Bishop Hindernach was forging the evidence
which was to prove that Jews had killed the boy
at Passover, and that as Saint Simon his poor
little body would do miracles and be forever there-
[25;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[26]
THE PIONEERS
beyond these few simple recorded facts the Hfe
of MeshuUam Cusi passes from the narrow
realms of history into the limitless domain of
imagination.
Unconscious of their own importance, these
ancient pioneer scholar-printers neglected, as un-
worthy of record,mere narrative, chronicle or
gossip, which to us, bred in the atmosphere of
historical research, would have proved of supreme
importance. As expressed by a writer of the
eighteenth century, "The reader will find just
cause of wonder that this art, which has been
styled the nurse and preserver of arts and science,
should (if I may use the expression) be so forgetful
of itself, as not to leave us the least sketch of its
own history, the inventors being more ambitious
of deserving than of purchasing praise."* A
notable exception is found in the dedication of the
works of St. Thomas Aquinas, published in 1480,
where the famed Nicolas Jensen of Venice thus
speaks of himself:
Nicholas Jensen gallicus vir
imprimis catholicus: erga
omnes gratus: beneficus:
liberalis:verax: constans;
pulcritudine: magnitudine:
fidelitateque impremendi
in toto terrarum orbe:
pace omnium dixerim:
primus, t
*S. Palmer "A General History of Printing" London 1733, p. 3.
t Brown, "The Venetian Printing Press"
N. Y. and London 1891,
p. 18.
[27]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[28]
THE PIONEERS
Jew and Moslem and Heathen met and
Christian,
discoursed, united by the common bond of culture
and philosophy. Here the man of intellect found
an always open door and here, nothing that was
human was foreign. In the salons and gardens of
Italian gentlemen the two great cultural elements
the Hellenic and the Hebraic were united,* when
the minds of men sought stimulus and refreshment
beyond the narrow limits of medieval scholasticism.
This union is typified in the Moses of Michelangelo.
The great protagonist of the Jewish race, who ac-
cording to Jewish tradition wore the triple crown
of wisdom, of sovereignty and of priesthood, sits
majestic in deathless marble carved by the greatest
artist of the Renaissance, thrice crowned in paint-
ing, in architecture and in sculpture.
In the garden of the Count, one summer even-
ing, three Jewish physicians were the centre of
interest, brilliantly debating some abstruse, phil-
osophic theme. Among the scholars present were
Marsilio Ficino, who fortunately for us did not
fail to make mention in a gossipy letter to his
friend Domenico Beniveni, that he heard this de-
bate between the Jewish physicians, Elias, Abra-
[29]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
J Graetz 4: 287.
fH. B. 20: 124.
[30]
THE PIONEERS
associated with him in his work, his wife EsteUina.
A mere recital of the six books known to have been
produced by his press from 1476 to 1480, with care
and skill and grace, leads us into the heart of the
man, to whom law travel history and exegesis,
astronomy and rhetoric were equally dear: The
legal code "Path of Life" * the traveler's tales of
Eldad the Danite, the popular version of Josephus.f
Rabbi Levi ben Gerson's commentary on the
Pentateuch,! an astronomical table by Mordecai
Finzi and "The Drippings of the Honeycomb,"
by Rabbi Judah ben Yehiel, the first Hebrew book
published in the lifetime of its author.^
In 1471 Duke Lodovico had invited the learned
and noble Doctor of Laws, Messer Pietro Adam de
t Yosippon.
J Assisted by Abraham Jedidiah of Cologna (Cologne?)
If Alas, for the author of the "Drippings of the Honeycomb." He
attempted to apply 'to Scripture the rules and terminology of classical
rhetoric as found in the writings of Cicero and Quintilian. How could
such heresy be countenanced? Rabbi Joseph Kolon, staunch pillar
of traditionalism, soon took up the cudgels against the innovator.
(Bacher "Hebr. Sprachwissenschaft" 101.) Hardly was the book
finished when a quarrel with Kolon compelled the Duke of Mantua,
Lodovico Gonzaga H., not Francesco (Jost 3 107) nor Joseph (Graetz
:
[31]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Fumagalli 200.
[32]
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mupSi w^Vis-sa pw ^a
j-iTsy -pi o"S;i'»ioT'onp"Fw^'pi9y nieDVxjraiSiisji-oinjirKcn par* wo
T93 TTiPr ova "1133-0 Jn"''t3»r>i7iij3rnS !wr3~n«'i ii3*^nVcwo»"?^B"o
o'Sa"'! ot wnr iww I'jis T»3 0"! OTT^ P1S0 iwss mwn nir? j^i towi ouio Ta
lawS aTcro paSsSwoS Twin iwa"" vni •)»y»3yi3T9v>ro's\nflnwn«j3a
OT 'Onr 1W0 MT
ntSl O'^IAT) OT'03 IW 1133^ ariji" msnaSan a issn yvro
o**vni 0-1* tmr ^"^ ^Vaw *i33o - j sf'
a'^jr nVsw 3'-n7ii »S'o o7r»3 OT3 wi ^TOnoXJlS^IV^ in«0'113"3^0r?«1»
nS'3193~nJ»10 31^313:3^3 ©"TwnP ri3 tii3w 7iS WW
oip3 isaS wisaVn^
nz~a :*»3 niSsa too? 113* rjm •i3in yi3i o'SwiS on '3 rwraa jw'ipw*
1-ui3W3 3ni"t;i3"S'» i'n437i»;s3S oSvn -p ytan tfn'X) nS pS "i^aa roa^
•ITj;iCr3t)3S'TOT onion iToaSs nsjJ oSa o'laia wo
t Putnam 1 : 365.
[34]
THE PIONEERS
mechanical printers who threaten to make learning
a base and vulgar thing even they must depend
on the manuscript over which we scholars have
bent with that insight into the poet's meaning
which is closely akin to the mens divinior of the
poet himself; unless they would flood the world
with grammatical falsities and inexplicable anom-
aliesthat would turn the very fountain of Par-
nassus into a deluge of poisonous mud." * The
blind Bardo well expressed the sentiment of the
literati of his day. But there was no need of such
fear for Hebrew No one studied manu-
literature.
scripts with greater care than the Hebrew printer,
who was engaged in a "holy work," whose duty it
was to transmit the words of the sages unchanged
by a single letter; who prepared his book with
extraordinary care from old and valuable manu-
scripts, corrected by learned scholars and inspired
by the desire to leave nothing undone that makes
for perfection, t Still more vigorous was the
resentment of the monkish scribes, who foresaw
the doom of their art through the competition
of the new machine.} The wail of Abbot
Trithemius of Spanheim may serve as a type of the
complaints of the booklovers. Writing to the Abbot
Gerlach of Dentz^f he says: "A work written on
—
* George Eliot: Romola Chap. V.
" Die Juden im Mittelalter '' Stuttgart 1834, p. 382.
t Depping,
" Reshith maase hadefus beyisrael " Warsaw 1897
J Chwolson
p. 6.
[35
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
36
THE PIONEERS
from the danger offire and water and secure against
t Putnam 1 : 243
t Scrolls of the law to be used in the synagogue, phylacteries,
doorpost amulets, bills of divorce, etc.
U Berliner " Einfluss " p. 9.
** Berliner " Einfluss ' 7.
tt Brown 23.
[37
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[38]
THE PIONEERS
culture, was concerned rather with the things of
this world of beauty of intellect and of power, than
of that mysterious and pale region beyond the
grave which constituted the realm of the Church.
The dukes of the House of Este harbored the
plan of rivalling the commercial importance of the
Queen of the Adriatic, and where such a magnifi-
cent enterprise was conceived the pettiness of
theological hair-splitting might amuse an idle hour,
but could not seriously affect the policy of the
State. The Jews, trained by long continued per-
secution to recognize from afar signs of danger or
of safety, did not fail to observe that wherever
there was commercial prosperity the influence of
the Church spirit was weak, and a place of safety
might be found for those who stood without the
pale. Therefore they flocked to Ferrara and pros-
pered and were treated by the duke with the con-
sideration that their services deserved. The de-
cree of the duke published in 1473, relieving the
Jews of all exceptional taxation, was testimony of
his practical sagacity and an act of far-reaching
importance, for it was a blow to the revenues of
the Church, which were in part maintained by
a special scheme of taxation levied by the Pope's
legate. The Church was of course always in need
of funds and a very important part of its adminis-
tration consisted in devising ways and means for
raising revenue. A favorite expedient was the
levying of special taxes on the Jews, a plan devised
at Rome and ingeniously worked out in detail,
[39]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[40]
THE PIONEERS
ruinous inefficiency of the administration of the
Church.
To the Ferrara of Ercole came Abraham the
Dyer of Pesaro. Why
he left his native city and
found his way to Ferrara we do not know. Per-
haps, as de Rossi surmises, he was attracted to
Ferrara by "the number of its Jews, the splendor
of its Jewish academies and the fame of its rab-
binical doctors," or, what is more likely, by the
less loftymotive of getting a better living at his
trade than in his native Pesaro. Andre of Belfort,
the Frenchman, had established the first press at
Ferrara in 1471, and other printers, mostly French-
men, soon followed him.* It may be that the
healthy curiosity of the dyer was attracted by the
new method of perpetuating literature, and that
he entered the shop of one of these craftsmen as
a journeyman apprentice. He soon became a
master, for in 1477 he set up his own press and
printed two books, both of them favorites with
the early printers, and therefore most probably
in good demand among Jewish readers; the first
one, a commentary on the Book of Job,t one of the
many commentaries of the popular Rabbi Levi
ben Gerson, whose books written some one hun-
dred and fifty years before this time, were issued
from nearly all of the presses in Italy, and the
second, "He shall Teach Knowledge" (Yoreh
* Fumagalli 126.
[41
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* One of the four sections of the great code of the law, The Turim,
a book in universal use as a guide and
in all matters, legal, ritualistic
and printed by the pioneers at Pieve, Mantua, Ferrara and
religious,
Soncino as well as at Ixar, Lisbon and Guadalaxara. Berliner "Aus
meiner Bibliothek " p. 30; Zunz "Zur Geschichte etc." p. 219.
t Caravita defrayed the cost of publishing the Pentateuch printed
by Abraham the Dyer and Joseph Hayyim ben Aaron, of Strassburg,
who also acted as corrector, at Bologna, on January 26, 1482. Ersch
& Gruber 28 34. It is supposed that the edition of Megillot with
:
[42]
Duke trcole I ot rerrara
THE PIONEERS
those early printers who reached perfection in their
work almost at the very outset. Their clear types,
rich black inks and clean strong press work are not
excelled by the best productions of the modern
press, and their successors of the sixteenth century
did little to improve upon their work. Later
printers, feeling the goad of competition and vying
with each other to supply the demand for cheap
books, hurried their work and in their haste sacri-
ficed their art to the gods of the market place.*
About the middle of the fifteenth century
Bologna became the storm centre of Jewish life in
Italy, as the meeting place of a great congress of
rabbis. The times were out of joint and the wise
men met to consult upon the public weal, for bitter
and relentless persecution threatened the House
of Israel. Nor did the rabbis meet in vain, for
when in 1473 Bernardino da Feltre preached at
[45]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[46]
THE PIONEERS
books to Christians or from buying from them.*
However, Church regulations, that in earUer cen-
turies would have been implicitly obeyed, had now
lost some of their force. Monasteries and churches
in need of money sold or pledged their books to
Jews, and as these were mostly religious works,
the Jews presumably did not purchase them for
home consumption."!" At the universities of Padua
and Bologna, the necessities of the students forced
the authorities to permit the Jewish book trade
to be openly carried on. Through the dimness of
the centuries we may still see one Jacob of Padua,
in high-peaked cap and pleated gown, hurrying
across the Foro dei Mercanti on his way to the
university, with a dozen precious parchment
scrolls under his arm; J and at an earlier date,
another, named Moses, from whom, in defiance of
Church regulations, some unknown scholar pur-
chased a valuable code, recording the transaction
in this inscription: "Emi hunc Anno Domini
MCCCC die XXI mensis Novembris a Moysi
Judeo pro VIII fiorenes."^
We naturally look to Bologna, the university
town, for early recognition of the press, and we
* If Jews had manuscripts to dispose of, it was necessary to place
them in the hands of the stationarii, who sold them on commission.
Putnam 1 185. :
1[ Putnam 1 : 246.
[47]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Fumagalli p. 37.
[48]
THE PIONEERS
the distinction of being ten times printed at six
different presses before the year 1500.
After Abraham the Dyer left Bologna, he again
disappears for a time, until we catch one last
glimpse of him working at the press of the most
renowned of the craft in the city of Soncino, in
1488, and with his departure from Bologna that
ancient and famous city passes out of the history
of the Hebrew press until after half a century, a
loyal company of Jewish silk weavers again engage
for a little while in the "holy work" of printing.
It was not only the physicians and men of
science who were devoted to the new art. Scholar-
ship and knowledge were not the exclusive pos-
session of professionalmen. Artisans and crafts-
men had always partaken freely of the "Prepared
Table", * as Joseph Caro so significantly called it,
and, in conformity with the immemorial practice
of Israel not to use scholarship as a spade to dig
with, had devoted their leisure to its cultivation
and dissemination. Therefore it was no strange
sight in the days of old to see Rabbi Joshua, the
needle maker, and Rabbi Yohanan, the sandal
maker, sitting in the highest places of the great
academies of learning to learn and to teach, or at
a later time to see the dyer of Pesaro, the butchers
of Padua,t or the silk weavers of Bologna engage
[49]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Chwolson p. 21.
fChwolson p. 22. One can appreciate the rarity of Hebrew in-
cunabula by noting that of the 100 books printed before 1500, about
20 are now known only through a single copy. Freimann p. 4. Chris-
tian incunabula are usually in fine condition, Hebrew ones exceptionally
so.
[50]
CHAPTER III.
THE
Moses
family of Soncino traces
of the City of Speyer
its origin
in Alsace,
to one
who
lived about the middle of the thirteenth century.*
Its history like that of most other families is ob-
scure, for although everybody has ancestors they
are not all recorded in the College of Heralds.
From the middle of the thirteenth to the middle
of the fifteenth century the family continued to
live in Speyer, and they were probably among the
Jews who were expelled from that city by a general
edict of expulsion in 1435. f The forefathers of
the Soncinati like the other tribes of the wandering
foot and weary breast found no permanent resting
place in Germany, and later on we find one of
them in the city of Furth in Bavaria a spirited —
somewhat obstinate man who fought for his people
with whole-souled and self-sacrificing devotion.
Moses Mentzlan (Menschlein, manikin) so called
[51]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[52]
THE SONS OF SONCINO
of Milan bearing that name, and continued under
Francesco Sforza who drove out the Visconti and
made himself Duke of Milan. The new Duke
being a wise statesman recognized the need of
commercial and financial talent in his Duchy, for
then as now the strength of princes depended upon
their treasury. It was therefore good policy on
the part of the Duke to induce useful citizens from
the neighboring principalities to settle in his do-
minion, strengthening his power at the expense
of his powerful and dangerous rival, the great
flourishing Republic of Venice who had extended
her influence far to the west, and had absorbed
several principalities that lay between her and
Milan. Samuel and his family the only Jews at
that time in Soncino were permitted by the Duke
to open a bank and lend money, and out of grati-
tude to his patron and to the country of his adop-
tion where for the first time the "manikin" had
become a "man", Samuel discarded his contemp-
tuous German surname and adopted that of the
city of his residence.
It is characteristic of many of the old Jewish
families in Italy as elsewhere that they united
great practical ability and sagacity with idealistic
devotion to scholarship and science. Bankers and
craftsmen devoted their leisure to the cultivation
of medicine, natural science, literature, law and
poetry. Like so many of his distinguished con-
temporaries Israel Nathan Soncino, the son of
Samuel Mentzlan practiced that profession of
[53:
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Sacchi p. 14.
[54]
!^4 &il«uLlll
FRANCESCO SFOKZAI-
DVCADIMILANO
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[56]
THE SONS OF SONCINO
only by the question of the accuracy of manu-
scripts that had come down to them from former
ages. The work and correction was
of revision
done by scholars of approved ability, who care-
fully studied the manuscripts and followed the
sheets through the press. Among the proof-
readers of the old printers we find some of the
greatest names of the time, for eminent scholars
considered it a pious duty to assist in the work of
[58]
THE SONS OF SONCINO
This string of pearls of wisdom and ethics first
[60]
THE SONS OF SONCINO
Prophets," * followed by the famous philosophical
work on the fundamentals of the Jewish religion
"The Book of Roots" (Ikkarim) by Joseph Albo,
a contemporary of Israel Nathan Soncino, who
died while the latter was still a young man. His
book essays to develop the religious philosophy of
Judaism along the lines laid down by Maimonides
in his thirteen articles, and although scholars are
divided as to admittedly one of
its originality, it is
[61]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[62]
THE SONS OF SONCINO
Jews throughout the Duchy of Milan, and to use
the words of the chronicler Joseph Hacohen*
"Lodovico II Moro the regent of Milan again
falsely accused the Jews cast them into prison and
exiled them from his land, after having extorted
much money from them."
Looking about him for a new home Joshua
Solomon decided to follow his workmen Solomon
ben Perez Bonfoi to Naples where King Ferrante I,
under the influence of his Jewish physician Gugli-
elmo di Portaleone, showed the large and pros-
perous Jewish community many marks of his favor.
One of the first books of Jewish interest pub-
lished at Naples issued from the press of Francesco
di Dino a Florentine residing at Naples near
the monastery of Fuligno.f It was an alleged
epistle of Rabbi Samuel a Moroccan Jew J but
was one of the many infamous books written
against Jews by their bitterest foes the apostates
who were anxious to prove the completeness of
their Christianity by the most inhuman and bar-
barous attacks on their former brethren in faith.
The first Hebrew press at Naples was founded in
—
1486 by Germans witness their Hebrew name
Ashkenazi and their surname probably taken
from their native town Gunzenhauser.^f
* Emek Habacha, ed. Letteris, p. 83.
t Fumagalli, p. 138.
{Berliner "Aus Meiner Bibliothek", p. 56; Schwab, "les incu-
nables", p. 10.
If The first
book of their press published by Hayyim the LeVite
the German (Ashkenazi) is the "Proverbs" of Immanuel of Rome,
163]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[64]
THE SONS OF SONCINO
Soncino's publications are known,* most important
among them a fine edition of the Pentateuch. No
doubt he as well as his fellow-craftsmen in Naples
would have continued to produce good books had
not the world politics of the year 1492 and the
problems of the Jewish community arising out of
the expulsion of the Jews from Spain put an end
forever to the activity of the Neapolitan Hebrew
presses.
Two of the last books published at Naples were
the "Agur" of Jacob Landau, and the "Canon"
of Avicenna. Abu Ali ben Abdallah Ibn Sina
or as he is known by the Latinized corruption of
his name Avicenna about the beginning of the
eleventh century wrote a medical encyclopedia,
which for five hundred years was a recognized
authority at the European universities. The
Jews' knowledge of Arabic gave them the key to
this great storehouse of medical knowledge, to
which they were devoted par excellence throughout
the Middle Ages.f In the middle of the thirteenth
century it was translated into Hebrew by Nathan
of Cento, and one of the distinctions of Dr. Israel
Nathan Soncino was his index to this great work,
never printed but seen in manuscript by De Rossi, J
and now in the Royal Library at Parma.^f In 1491
* Psalms, Proverbs and Job, 1490; Bible, 1491; Pentateuch with
accents, 1491; Mishnah, 1492. He probably printed others not now
identified.
t Depping, p. 386.
% Sacchi, p. 48.
t Hebr. Codex 927 ; Soave p. 6.
[65]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[66]
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las n'i'')j>irT>'p'B;N3i nri'nna-ii'^a-r -^t nnt< Kipa N*"iDKi isni p'l'ns
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r-<'fl'xi Tira >'a»iD3'3V(!«on3ipon-Bsir» cp'iHiy rijm-'jViy'VTire' SSw -TiifniCT
t Schwab, p. 84.
[68]
THE SONS OF SONCINO
until the settlement there of five or six Jews in the
early part of the nineteenth century that the
foundations were laid for a new congregation of
Israel in this beautiful but unfortunate city.
[69]
CHAPTER IV.
—
Milan and Venice The Name of Gerson His Biogra- —
phers — —
His Character and Achievements The First Illus-
trated Book — —
At Brescia War and Persecution At Barco —
— — —
Expurgation Gerson the Wanderer At Venice Padre —
Georgi.
[701
GERSON SONCINO
among the unknown dead whose unmarked graves
were the only reHcs of the once flourishing com-
munity of Jews in that fateful city.
What of the other survivor of the house of
Soncino? Lodovico Sforza, though wise and skill-
ful enough to wrest the throne of Milan from its
lawful possessor, was blind to the advantage that
the Jews were to his Duchy, an advantage that
was quite clear to the unscrupulous but versatile
intelligence of his father Francesco. As the de-
cline of Spain commences with the period of the
expulsion of her Jews, so the independence and
sovereignty of Milan were forfeited at the time
when she drove from her soil these, who were
among her best citizens. Only blind Chauvinism
sees in these events cause and effect, but fair judg-
ment not deny that the persecution and exile
will
of the Jews were symptomatic of political inepti-
tude and were the result of a policy based on far-
reaching evils. In 1500 Lodovico lost his throne
the Duchy its independence and thereafter for
three hundred and fifty years it was alternately
held by France Germany Spain and Austria until
it was with the present king-
finally incorporated
dom of Italy. In 1541 the Emperor Charles V
confirmed the ancient privileges of those Jews that
had returned after Lodovico' s decree of exile and
in 1597 they were again driven into exile.*
Westernmost of the Venetian territories on the
boundary of Milan lay Brescia, the nearest great
*H. B. 1 : 18.
[71
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[72]
GERSON SONCINO
commercial prosperity instead of chaining her to
the dull routine of mere money-making, expanded
her ideas and enlightened her mind by contact
with all the world, and during the fifteenth cen-
tury even after the Ghetto gates were erected for
them, the Jews of Venice enjoyed many privileges
denied them by other States, excepting always
those that patterned their policy after the brilliant
example of the great Venetian republic.
Before following the fortunes of Gerson Soncino
in hiswanderings through Italy, let us pause a
moment to look back at his early career in the
city whose name he bore. We shall call him
Gerson Soncino, although in the synagogue he
was called to the law as Gershom ben Mosheh,
and in his non-Jewish books he calls himself
Hieronymus.* Ordinarily it may not be worth
while to dwell on a mere name, but we are now
speaking of the man who although not first in
time was first in importance among Hebrew
printers, and who for upwards of fifty years
during several of which he was the only Hebrew
printer in the world, printed about one hundred
[73]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[74]
t
lain'^ia laiKT^i
o''3Vu iyat{'ia»
•na«j<hi hfspii'a
J<ppni flvnrn
J/i3»3ie mi*ir|«3
» PDanirtJ^JufeiPKPBfiiJBWWiPpTi^icii')};! ^J-Diwcjpjtrpw*)
[76]
GERSON SONCINO
the rival of the great Aldo Manuzio. He went on
journeys of exploration to distant cities seeking
rare manuscripts and the society of learned scholars
brilliant artists and celebrated priests. We find
him in far-off Geneva and Cambrai, as well as in
the brilliant environs of Padua and Venice, forti-
fying his talent with new ideas and bringing fresh
inspiration to his work.
This intellectual strength and aesthetic taste
did not chill his sympathy for the poor and op-
pressed, and it was not in vain that the victims
of persecution appealed to his warm human interest.
The virtues of his ancestry and the grace of mind
and manner that was a blend of his Italian and
Jewish culture, enabled him throughout his ex-
traordinarily long career to suffer with equanimity
"the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and
to continue on his way with undiminished powers
and hopefulness. Faithful to his ideal in his
work, true to the call of his suffering kin, he re-
[77]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[78]
GERSON SONCINO
home thus broken Gerson yielded to sHght pressure
and departed for Brescia. He had already printed
two fine books, another great law book the "Strong
Hand" of Maimonides in 1490 and a collection of
allegories and fables in rhymed prose entitled
"Ancient Fable" (Meshal Hakadmoni) by Isaac
Ibn Sahula, in both of which the art of the illus-
trator was applied in decided violation of the
traditional interpretation of the second com-
mandment. The book of fables lent itself readily
to pictorial representation of beasts and birds and
men; law book the illustration consisted of
in the
decorated initial letters, an arabesque title border
and the use of figures such as an angel with a
spear directed toward a devil's head and two
angels on either side of a wreath* Without abate-
ment of his interest in Judaism Gerson published
with Olympian impartiality the most absurd monk-
ish tales, Catholic books of devotion and books
which set forth all the pretensions to infallibility
that characterized medieval Christianity.
For four years Gerson Soncino dwelt in Brescia
and printed Bibles and prayer books, and there is
great significance in the character of the produc-
tions of his press. When men are in daily terror
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[80]
GERSON SONCINO
The Brescia Bible of 1494 is a notable book. It
was the text used by Luther in making his trans-
lation, and the great reformer's copy is now in the
Royal Library at Berlin.*
On the broad board of Italian politics the Jews
were insignificant pawns. Kings bishops and
knights great and small keen-witted and unscrupu-
lous, were playing the fascinating game of politics
in which moves were guided by intrigue, plots met
by war and counterplot. Sword in hand and lie
on lip they faced each other, and chief among them
all for unscrupulous faithlessness was the greatest
* There are but few copies of this book in existence. In 1896 but
two copies were known. BerUner, "Einfluss" p. 4. In 1904 we hear
of seven. Jew. Enc. Art. "Incunabula."' The Prophets and Hagio-
grapha of this edition are inexact in accents; this branch of Hebrew
grammar was not developed until later. H. B. 1 : 41. It must have
it to place it in my library."
[81
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texts by substituting inoffensive phrases for dan-
gerous ones. There was as yet no official censor-
ship by the Church; that chapter in the history
of human folly had yet to be written, but many
Hebrew books had drawn the fire of ecclesiastical
condemnation by reason of comparatively harm-
less and perfectly natural anti-Christian senti-
ments. Thus the commentary of Kimhi on the
Psalms first published at Bologna in 1477 con-
tained the learned author's bold protests against
the arrogance of the faith that claimed all truth
for itself and condemned all else as damnable
error. When
Rashi explained the meaning of the
word "Goyim" as "disciples of Jesus of Nazareth"*
he little suspected the burden of woe that he was
thereby preparing for posterity, for the hatred of
Jewish apostates as well as of unlearned ecclesias-
tics seeing in every use of the word "Goi" a direct
reflection upon the Christian religion, triumphantly
pointed to the authority of Rashi acknowledged as
the greatest of Jewish commentators. So that in
later years, when the ardent persecution of He-
brew books had become common, it became neces-
sary in many cities to publish some such pathetic
disclaimer of guilt as the following: "Be it known
that the reader finds in this
if book the word 'Goi'
or 'strange worship,' or the like, it refers to the
nations who lived in the days of the sages of the
Talmud, who were the worshipers of stars and
constellations, who denied Providence resurrec-
* Popper, p. 21.
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MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[84]
GERSON SONCINO
apparently himself became a victim to the stress
and strife of the time, and for five years from 1497
to 1502 his press was silent. During these last two
years of his work in Brescia and Barco he was the
only Hebrew printer in the world all of the other;
A Typical S
ypicai CJoncmo initial word
t Depping p. 380.
[85]
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[86]
GERSON SONCINO
Christian Hebraists entangled in the meshes of the
Cabbala, that mystical science whose only real
service has been the reconciliation of many Jews
and non-Jews, who but for this union of interest
might never have been brought together. In this
way the Cabbala has served to help on the millen-
nial day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down
together.*
In studying the history of Gerson Soncino
nothing is more to be regretted than the absence
of any record of these five years of his wander-
ings. What an incalculably valuable book of travels
he might have written, illuminating many dark
pages, not only of Jewish history but of the general
history of the times. For after all there is little
known of the history of the people of the end of
the fifteenth century, and our sources of informa-
tion consist largely of the gossip of courts the
records of military enterprises the debates of
clergymen upon theological abstractions and the
memoirs of the dilettanti in literature. Of the
people we know nothing; they had no history,
they existed merely for the purpose of furnishing
soldiers and money for their rulers. Hence the
chronicles of the times are meagre in those details,
the customs the manners daily life and habits of
the people that would be to us of supreme im-
portance,! What happened to Gerson on his
* Manzoni p. S.
t We have too few records to enable us to render
an adequate
verdict on the civil status of the Jews of this epoch in other parts
of Italy. Depping "Die Juden im Mittelalter," p. 363.
[87]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[88]
CHAPTER V.
—
At Fano Caesar Borgia— Why Gerson Went to Fano —
Gerson Soncino Becomes Hieronymus Soncinus Lorenzo —
—
Astemio Edits Soncino's Latin and Italian Books Gerson's
Dedication of Petrarca to Caesar Borgia —
His Rivalry with
—
Aldo Manuzio The Engraver Francesco Griffo and the
—
Origin of Aldine Types His Patroness the Lady Ginevra
— —
Sforza of Pesaro Gerson Removes to Pesaro He Becomes
the Printer of Municipal Statutes —
The Death of the Lord of
—
Pesaro and Its Union with Urbino The Intercourse between
—
Jew and Christian The Reuchlin Controversy and the
— —
Talmud Morality of the Jews The Origin of Mantegna's
—
"Madonna della Vittoria" Gerson Publishes Works of
—
Savonarola Writes an "Introduction to Hebrew Letters" —
Sells Books at Perugia.
[89]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
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GERSON SONCINO
scure, is best known through the name of its
ablest scientific exponent MachiavelH, and in the
words of this crafty Florentine was designed "to
secure the ruler against enemies, to gain himself
overcome opposition by force or fraud,
friends, to
to make himself beloved or feared by the people and
reverenced by the soldiers, to destroy and extermi-
nate such as would injure him ... to make
kings or princes either obliged to requite him or
afraid to ofif end him."* And as an example worthy
of imitation, Machiavelli points to Cesare Borgia
as the freshest and best model for princes.
What led our printer to Fano, into the jaws of
the tyrant Borgia? Evidently contemporary opin-
ion was not unanimous in condemning him and
indeed there must have been something attractive
in his personality or his rule to have warranted
Gerson in placing himself and his art at his dis-
posal. Why did Gerson not remain at Venice and
seek to establish a Hebrew press there in the very
heart of the world of letters, where he had friends
and patrons. Perhaps it was lack of funds to buy
the necessary privilege from the Signoria, perhaps
it was the strength of Aldo's influence that pre-
[91]
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[92]
GERSON SONCINO
her Jews, graciously favored Gerson's plans to set
up a printing press at Fano.* One of his earliest
friends was Lorenzo Astemio of Macerata former
librarian of Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino.f who
had after the rise of Borgia left Urbino and settled
at Fano^as a teacher of grammar. He edited and
corrected the Latin and Italian books printed by
SoncinoJ and in many a phrase in dedicatory
letters to various patrons showed his esteem for
t Manzoni p. 60.
t Manzoni p. 6.
If
Introduction to Palaemon's "Ars grammaticae" Fano 1503.
Manaoni p. 43.
[93]
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[94]
GERSON SONCINO
should have been especially zealous to produce it
except for its effect. Our printer was fighting for
a foothold for a chance to strike root to establish
himself in the good graces of the powers eccle-
siastical and secular, and after securing the favor
of the Cardinal and the Bishop, he turns to the
Prince whom he boldly calls in the glaring flattery
of the time "the Divine Borgia Caesar the Second."*
To this "Divine Caesar" Lorenzo Astemio had
dedicated the Life of Epaminondas issued by Son-
cino in 1502, and with fine Italian hand impaled
the bloody Borgia on the keen point of this veiled
reproof. "You (Caesar) have also this char-
acteristic of Epaminondas, who though he might
have led great armies and could have heaped up
the greatest riches desired nothing more than an
immortal name."t In July 1503 Gerson Soncino
approached the foot of the Borgia throne with a
fine volume containing the poems of Petrarca and
dedicated to "the most illustrious and most ex-
cellent Prince Cesare Borgia, Duke of Aemilia and
Valentino and Standard Bearer of the Holy Roman
Church," prefacing this sonnet to the fierce patron
of literature:
Each servitor of true and loyal thought.
Whatever be the service he may bring,
Who does not of his master's glory sing.
In failing this, has grievous error wrought.
[95]
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[96]
GERSON SONCINO
at death's door, his nascent power crumbHng to
ruins.
r971
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[98]
GERSON SONCINO
we hope may not be displeasing to you; with the
help of God and your favor we shall strive to
dedicate works most famous and noble to your
highness, to whom most humbly we recommend
ourselves."
In order to understand the allusions to Aldo
Romano and others who wore borrowed plumes
we must go back a few years and enter the famous
shop of Aldo on the Campo Sant' Agostino. At
the time that Gerson was in Venice Aldo Manuzio
Romano whose name is familiar to thousands who
do not know of the man's existence through the
adjective "Aldine" applied to so many books
editions printing houses and things literary, had
just begun his life's work of rescuing from oblivion
the masterpieces of Greek literature. He ac-
quired less renown through his Greek texts which
are his real contribution to the humanities, than
through his Latin and Italian texts printed in
letters which are familiar even to school children;
for the modern italics though artistically inferior
are modified Aldine types, later called italic from
the land of their origin. And through these types
the great printer Aldo comes into relation with
his fellow-craftsman Gerson Soncino. There was
a famous engraver of Bologna Francesco Griffo*
[99]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[100]
GERSON SONCINO
self of his livelihood; but as Messer Aldo had
made his further sojourn within the domain of the
Signoria irksome and dangerous, behooved him
it
[101]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[102]
GERSON SONCINO
posterity."* And had
needed confirmation he
it
IN GRAMMATOGLYPTAE LAUDEM.
QUI GRAIIS DEDIT ALDUS, EN LATINIS
DAT NUNC GRAM M ATA SCALPTA DAE-
DALEIS FRANCISCI MANIBUS BONONI-
ENSIS.f
Although our sympathy goes out to Soncino in
his unequal contest with the powerful Aldo we
are obliged to admit the superiority of Aldo's
Petrarca, not as regards the type, but the correct-
ness of the text. The reason appears when we
remember that Aldo's was one of the most
editor
famed Pietro
exquisite scholars of the time the far
Bembo, whereas Soncino had to be content with
the modest skill of Astemio, who although a good
Latinist was no match for Bembo in the living
language.^ After the edition of Petrarca, Gerson
printed eighteen other books at Fano until his
removal to Pesaro in 1506; the very next book
being his first Hebrew publication, the "Hoshaa-
* Sacchi p. 20.
t Brown p. 47. Francesco cut various styles of italics. Manzoni
Annali p. 30 considers the style used by Soncino finer than that
used by Aldo. Francesco came to a bad end. He was hanged in 1S18
for killing his son-in-law. Fumagalli p. 42.
J Manzoni p. 38.
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MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
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GERSON SONCINO
out of the main path of the swarms of warHke
rovers who under Spanish Swiss and German
leaders overran Italy and for decades ravaged the
land in the service of Pope and Prince. Under the
rule of the Sforza and of the Rovere it became an
asylum for scholars and and its court was
artists
celebrated by Ariosto as the place where "with the
author of the 'Courtier,' with Bembo and the
others sacred to divine Apollo, exile was rendered
less hard and strange." After the fall of Cesare
Borgia, Giovanni Sforza Lord of Pesaro reentered
the city from which the arms of Borgia had driven
him, and shortly thereafter he married Ginevra
daughter of Marco Tiepolo of Venice a lady whom
Jacopo da Bergamo in his book on the celebrated
women of Renaissance, lauds for her elegance of
form her wonderful grace her calm and queenly
bearing and her chaste beauty.* This lady had
been the patroness of Gerson Soncino when that
wandering craftsman was in Venice just before his
estabhshment at Fano; and it was in all proba-
bility her marriage to the Lord of Pesaro in Decem-
ber 1504 that turned Gerson's thoughts to that
city. Giovanni Sforza was a cultivated gentle-
man, who though capable of deeds of violence was
devoted to the study of philosophy,! and had
gathered a notable library in his palace at Pesaro,
vying with that of the Dukes of Urbino on their
neighboring mountain top. Compared with their
* Gregorovius "Lucretia Borgia" N. Y. 1903 p. 28.
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MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[106]
GERSON SONCINO
dedicated to Galeazzo Sforza brother of Giovanni,
who was then ruling, and in 1516 to Eleonora
Rovere da Gonzaga wife of the Duke of Urbino,
Gerson began his career in Pesaro. In this con-
genial atmosphere he printed without cessation
from 1507 to 1515 and again in 1517, 1519 and
1520. The two famous libraries of Pesaro and
Urbino attracted scholars and established a book-
mart in these cities, and stirred by the rivalry of
the great Aldo, Latin Italian and Hebrew texts
flowed from Gerson's press. Had be been a
Christian the world would have known him as a
printer of fame equal to Aldo, for men of culture
and discernment who were his contemporaries
have left plain records of their opinion of his merit,
an opinion fully sustained by the excellence of his
productions. But he was a Jew, and until re-
cently his name was barely known even to biblio-
philes, who seem to have ignored the great books
on Hebrew typography which the Abbot De
Rossi wrote more than a hundred years ago. To
the non-Jewish world the Hebrew printed book
like the Talmud is little known, and bibliographers
talk about Soncino books published at Prague or
in Spain just as the monks used to talk about
Rabbinus Talmud, as though it were a man. Per-
haps the non-Jewish world may be excused for
its lack of interest, but it is only just that his co-
religionists should remember Jewish printer,
this
whose merits equal those which gained Aldo "im-
mortal fame with posterity."
[107]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[108]
GERSON SONCINO
Statutes they had This however was
revised.
never done.* In his edition of Cornazzano's "Mili-
tary Affairs" dedicated to Giovanni Sforza he
acknowledges "the great most ample and inesti-
mable benefits patronage favor and kindness"
shown to him and to his family. Making all due
allowances for the exaggeration of this dedication
we may reasonably conclude that it was well with
him at Pesaro. A few Hebrew books published at
this time (1507) indicate that he was not unmind-
ful in the midst of his success with Christian books
of the great purpose set before him: f "May God
illumine my
darkness and give me strength to
commence . other holy books of the law
. .
[109]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[110]
GERSON SONCINO
ruled at Pesaro, Gerson was protected and honored
by the court and the scholars. The Sforza, Duke
Ercole of Ferrara and later their Highnesses
of Urbino accepted his dedications. Alessandro
Gaboardo of Torcelli edited and corrected many
of his books, and testified to the skill of this "most
accurate printer." He was the friend of the
astronomer Camillo Leonardo the poet Giacomo
Costanzi the printers Nicolo Brenta and Pietro da
Cafa of Pesaro and Bernardino Oliva and Ber-
nardo Guerralda of Ancona, no less than of the
preaching Friar Innocente Bacchio. In the re-
public of letters in the world of thought the pass-
port was excellence, and consideration of religion
and race seems to have played but an unimportant
part. It cannot be overlooked that at this time
some of Gerson's books were introduced to the
reading public by Innocente Bacchio, who be-
longed to the Preaching Friars a class of men chief
among whom were men like Giovanni di Capis-
trano and Bernardino da Feltre whose business
consisted largely in preaching personal virtue and
morality, together with undying hatred and per-
secution of Turk, Jew and other infidels and
heretics. Here surely is a millennial scene, —the
preaching friar in the house of the Jew, recom-
mending the worthy printer to the good will of
the Lady of Pesaro.* This is all the more note-
worthy, because this time saw the beginning of the
Reuchlin controversy on the Talmud, soon des-
* See introduction to the " Medicine for the Soul " 1510.
[Ill
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
is intended to show that the Jews had anything to do with the utter
[112 1
GERSON SONCINO
One of Gerson's patrons was the Carmelite
Monk Fra Battista, whose poem on the "Fortunes
of Francesco Marquis of Mantua" was printed in
1509*
Another and a greater contemporary is repre-
sented among the pubHcations of Gerson Soncino.
Some of the smaller works of Savonarola were
rottenness of society and clergy. As a matter of fact no authority is
given for his statement and our studies of Jewish printers justify us in
denyingits truth: Jew. Enc. article "Boccaccio" 3: 279. Gerson Soncino
who was the only Jewish printer of his time who published non- Jewish
books was issuing Latin classics Catholic religious works books of
grammar and rhetoric and there is not one book in his entire list that
can be classed as immoral, unless the literature of miracle working
saints and the abdication of reason to ecclesiastical authority be placed
in that category.
* This Francesco was the brother of Elizabeth Gonzaga, Duchess
of Urbino, to whom Gerson's Fano edition of Serafino's poem was
dedicated in 1505, and it was his victory over the French at Fornuovo
"
that was indirectly responsible for the famous "Madonna della Vittoria
painted by Mantegna and now hanging in the Louvre. As this is
probably the only great Italian picture known to have been paid for
by a Jew, it may not be uninteresting to sketch its history. The pic-
ture represents the Virgin and the infant Jesus, seated in a bower of
flowers, on the one hand Saints Joseph and Michael, on the other the
infant St. John and St. Elizabeth, The Madonna's right hand and the
hand of Jesus are raised in blessing over the kneeling figure of Francesco
Gonzaga, the captain of the League which was formed by the Pope
Spain England Venice and Milan to oppose Charles VIII of France.
At the battle of Fornuovo (July 6, 1495) the Marquis implored the aid
of the Virgin, through whose intercession no doubt the French were
obliged to retreat. Now it appears that one day while Francesco
was campaigning, a religious procession through the streets of Mantua
passed the house of Daniel Norsa, a Jewish banker in the Via San
Simone. When Norsa had bought his house, he obtained episcopal
consent, after paying a large sum of money, to remove an image of
the Virgin which adorned the facade. When the procession passed
the house it was noticed that the place formerly occupied by the
image of the Virgin, had been defaced by some profane verses probably
by some wag who delighted like so many of the time to sport with
[113]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
the things held sacred by the Church. The crowd seeing the verses,
threw stones and broke the Jew's windows, and otherwise threatened
him. He wrote to the Marquis, who, moved by the justice of the
cause and no doubt also by financial consideration, gave the Jew his
protection. After the victory of Fornuovo the Marquis wrote to his
consort the famous Isabella d'Este who ruled in his absence, that as
a thank offering for the aid given him by the Virgin on the field of
battle, Daniel Norsa should restore the picture of the Virgin in a more
splendid form; thus the mother of God would be fittingly honored
at no expense to the Marquis. Whereupon Andrea Mantegna was
ordered to paint the picture for one hundred and ten ducats and Daniel
Norsa was ordered to pay within three days. Subsequently in order
to make the thank offering to the Virgin more complete Girolamo
Redini a preaching friar proposed that Norsa's house be torn down
and a church built there, dedicated to the Madonna of the Victory.
The and it was done, and Man-
justice of this at once appealed to all
tegna's new picture was carried in procession and enshrined in its new
temple, where it remained until Napoleon's day when the French
whom she had helped to defeat three hundred years before took her
picture amid much other plunder and carried it off to Paris where it
still remains. For this account see more fully Cartwright's "Isabella
d'Este."
* Manzoni p. 229.
[114]
GERSON SONCINO
"hoc alphabetum jam pene puer composui,"
and he introduces it to the Christian readers, for
whom it was intended, in simple unclassical Latin
phrase full of the idiom of the vernacular.*
Besides bookmaking he naturally was engaged in
bookselling, and at least two documents are extant
showing his business connection in Perugia. He
had patrons and his business
in all the great cities
prospered except when it was checked here and
there by the perpetual warfare, which was the
outcome of the policies of the League of Cambrai.f
* Lectori.
Lector si Hoc alphabetum,
placet hebraicam linguam condiscere.
et litterarum combinationes et quaedamad banc rem facientia,
alia
tibi et studiosis condonani (sic). His. u. (nam) nisi Ameles angulus
dici mauis hebraice Legere poteris. Hoc alphabetum jam pene puer
composui. Sed his cui dederam hebraicae Linguae ignarus non recte
apposuit nunc uero correptum (sic) habes: Deinceps psalmorum
Codicem hebraice graece et latine Pisauri excussum expectato A diuo
Hieronymo de uerbo ad uerbum secundum ueritatem hebraicam traduc-
tum, additis nonnuUis nostris glossis Loca plurima a scriptoribus in-
ductis corrupta aperientibus. Adde et Lector Candidissime. His
psalmorum codex ad linguam hebraicam graecam et latinam
poterit tibi
pro dictionario succurrere. Vale, et haec plusquam Tantali Talenta
ficito: Pisauri. Manzoni p. 257.
t Guicciardini, 4 : 211.
[115
CHAPTER VI.
[116]
GERSON SONCINO
ranted his establishing a new connection at An-
cona, a well known and important seaport lying
to the south of Pesaro, where presses were in
operation under charge of his friends Bernardino
Oliva and Bernardo Guerralda, with whom Son-
cino placed orders for a number of books during
the years 1513-1517. At the same time Soncino's
sons were taken into the firm and the books now
appear by "the sons of Soncino". * What may
be taken as an indication of lightheartedness pro-
duced partly by the general happy aspect of his
affairs, is the publication of two jolly books be-
longing to that peculiar class pubHshed solely for
the joyous Festival of Purim, "The Treatise on
Purim" t and the Book of Habbakbuk "the
bottle", a broadparody of the Book of Habbakuk. J
Since 1510 when the output of Hebrew books
of Soncino's press had been rather meagre, he
printed the Bible and the Earlier Prophets. Be-
sides the Talmudic treatises and the Purim books
mentioned, the following five years yielded only
commentaries on the Pentateuch by Nachmanides
1513-14, by Bahya and Levi ben Gerson 1514, and
a Mahzor, German rite in 1515. Among his non-
Hebrew books was a departure into the books on
chivalry, the publication of one of those foolish
and extravagant romances which were held up to
t Z. H. B. 9 : 153.
[117]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[118]
1 itle page of ICoibo
Soncino, Rimini, 1525
GERSON SONCINO
Guarini,who unworthily descended from his
Olympus to fling a stone at the much suffering
Jews :
To Caecilianus.
Why does the Hebrew wear the fourth vowel on his breast ?
[121]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[122]
GERSON SONGINO
Marches. To Ortona by the Sea Gerson turned
his face, and in 1518 we find him vainly attempting
to establish himself in the Abruzzi, that rough
mountainous land that formed a great natural
barrier, protecting the kingdom of Naples on the
north, and stretching through Abruzzi Citeriore
in a poor sandy plain to the sea. Here lay Ortona,
noted for its wines but poor in those products of
the mind that made the Marches and Venice so
attractive to the scholars and the printers. No
doubt our printer had reasonable peace and quiet
at Ortona, for he even contemplated moving to
Ghieti the capital of this province, but peace and
quiet though essential are not the exclusive de-
siderata for a printer, especially when purchased
at the price of utter abasement to an insignificant
princeling the Count of Montorio who as
like
vassal of Charles V ruled over Ortona. In the
language used not only by the printers but by all
the craftsmen and scholars Christian and Jewish,
Gerson after reciting that he has brought his family
and household to this part of the Abruzzi, to this
noble city "like the royal eagle among the birds,"
servilely dedicates an edition of Cornazzano's
"Military Affairs" to the Count "whose innumer-
able virtues and nobiUty he would be able to de-
scribe only in part if he had the fertility of Cicero
the majesty of Virgil and the ease and sweetness
of Ovid."* Thus to obtain a mere living the best
men of that day had to abase themselves before
* Manzoni p. 472.
[123]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[1241
GERSON SONCINO
gradually under the pressure of a hostile environ-
ment been interpreted by the rabbis so as to pro-
hibit the reading of works of belles lettres and
history, lest the reader be led to scoffing apostasy
and evil desire. It was a natural and almost in-
stinctive method of defense developed by the
minority to preserve their religion their view of
life and their racial identity against the powerful
[125
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[126]
GERSON SONCINO
one place it rose in another, and thus we find our
courageous and much tried printer leaving Pesaro
in 1520 to go to Rimini, whither he had desired
to go in 1518 at the time when he was obliged as
a second choice to settle at Ortona.
On the 24th day of October 1518, "the Consuls
and Ecclesiastical Council of Rimini assembled
according to custom and in the usual place" the
Palazzo del Comune, considered the petition of
one Hieronymus Sonzinus an excellent printer of
books (librorum impressore egregio) who sought
a residence in the city and privilege to exercise his
craft. After due deliberation they solemnly de-
cided that as all public or private business among
which the printing of books is to be worthily in-
cluded, should be encouraged for the honor and
benefit of the State, and as the cities of Rome
Venice and Naples have favored printers of books
"we owe it to the greater honor and benefit of our
city Ariminium to follow in their footsteps; and
as we should not only admit the said Magister
Hieronymus to our city but should also assist him
with favors, exemptions and subventions as much
as possible; Now therefore," etc. etc.* Without
going into further detail, suffice it to say that the
worthy Ecclesiastical Council of Rimini in the
States of the Church, showed marks of unusual
favor to Gerson Soncino the Jew. It is possible
[127]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[128]
GERSON SONCINO
the ancient and legitimate but petty and vicious
tyrant Pandolfo. Had the Church continued
through the following centuries to rule its prov-
inces in the same spirit of liberality and toleration,
the temporal power would probably never have
been forfeited and the Pope would to-day be some-
thing more than "the prisoner in the Vatican."
In the best location in Rimini on the old Roman
Bridge of St. Peter one time the Bridge of Augustus,
where artists and craftsmen nobles and merchants
were wont to pass and repass all day long, the
Council assigned a bookshop to Gerson Soncino
rent free for one year. They exempted him from
all taxes and imposts (datio et gabella) so that he
[129;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* True printers' marks are as a rule seals and often in the form of
a seal and without words. These marks consist for the most part of
figures of animals, taken from the coat-of-arms of the place of publica-
tion or in connection with the name of the printer; and appear on the
title page and also of other pages of the book, such as the epigraph or
introduction, or the beginning and end of various parts. Such are the
peacock of Sabbioneta, also used at Mantua and Venice; the small
white lion in the black square, used at Constantinople; the lion with
[130]
GERSON SONCINO
pretation of another old law regarding the repre-
sentation of "anything in the heavens above, on
the earth beneath or in the waters under the
earth." It was quite unusual for the Jews to have
anything to do with graphic arts, and an occasional
departure from the ancient custom always re-
quired explanation and apology. Not all were
able to explain as wittily as Abtalion ben Solomon
who when charged with the offense of having a
picture of his teacher Rabbi Samuel Katzenellen-
bogen Padua on the wall of his study turned to
of
Isaiah 30 20 reading, "and thine eyes shall see
:
the double tail and two globes, in the prints of Prague, taken from the
coat-of-artns of Prague; the half lion and half eagle crowned, of Salonica;
the lion battling with the horse, of Ixar; the griffin, of Grifio, of Venice;
the elephant of Cavalli the candelabrum of Meir Parenzo the temple
; ;
[131]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[132]
GERSON SONCINO
and gradually encroaching on Gerson's book trade
had brought out an edition of this work in 1521,
and Gerson in his edition prompted rather by
business competition than unselfish zeal for letters
bitterly criticises its many flagrant errors. Fol-
lowing these books he published the Kolbo, Bahya's
and Rashi's commentaries on the Pentateuch, the
Melizat Efer ve Dinah, Landau's Agur and the
Abkat Rohel, a poor output for six years and an
[133]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
words :
[134]
GERSON SONCINO
that Gerson lost his fortune and his peace of mind
in defending himself against these charges, and
in 1526 as if to combat them and seek support at
the Roman Court published the "Mirror of the
Holy Mother Church" by Cardinal Ugo di San
Vittore. But we find him now fairly at the end
of his career in Italy. It was probably at this
time that he became of service to his unfortunate
brethren in faith, who, to escape persecution fled
to the Orient with his aid and assistance. In the
preface of his Miklol* he says, "God be praised
and may he be my support and the prop of my
old age; may He record it to my credit that I
helped the Marranos of Spain and Portugal. With
all my strength will I endeavor to the end of my
t Sacchi p. 25.
[135
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[136]
GERSON SONCINO
printer's ink aroused the old instinct and forth-
with the veteran craftsman began a new edition
of the Mahzor.*
For some reason however he continued his
journey to Constantinople, where for upwards of
five years he produced many excellent books. The
presses of Constantinople had been active since
1503, and Gerson found many fellow-craftsmen
in the Turkish capital.
In 1534 bowed with old age he left Constanti-
nople to return to SalonicaJ to die in the arms
of his children, and at the very brink of the grave
he began the publication of another book the gram-
mar David Kimhi which was finished
(Miklol) of
by his son Eliezer^f after his death. But although
he had found rest and comparative happiness in
the land of the Crescent, he ever looked back with
hopeless longing to the land of the Cross. His
love for his native land was too deep ever to be
[137
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[138]
GERSON SONCINO
the greatest respect, and in concluding our notice
of him we trust that the discovery of other un-
known works and the more careful research of
bibliographers will bring to light other interesting
particulars of the life of our printer."*
SONCINO.
1483 Talmud Babli Berakhot
" Bezah
1484 Ibn Gebirol, Mibhar Hapeninim
Bedersi, Behinat 01am
1484-5 Abot with Maimonides
1485 (?) Talmud Babli Megillah
1485 Mahzor (Roman rite) vol. I.
CASAL MAGGIORE.
1486 Mahzor (Roman Rite) vol. II.
SONCINO.
1486-7 Talmud
* Apostolo Zeno called him "impressoria arte primarius et doc-
tissimus rerum reconditarum"- Sacchi p. 27.
[139]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
1487
GERSON SONCINO
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
PESARO.
1507 Bahya Biur al Hatorah
1507-8 Kimhi, Mahalah Shebile Hadaat
Petah Debarai
1508 Tefillah Mikol Hashana
Talmud Babli, Yebamot
" "
1509-10 Bezah
1510 Soncino, Mabo al otiot ibriot; intro-
ductio ad letteras hebraicas
1510 (?) Talmud Babli, Berakhot
" Baba Kamma
1511 Bible, 1st part
Earlier Prophets with Kimhi
1511-12 Talmud Babli, Baba Bathra
" Megillah
1512 Earlier Prophets, with Abrabanel
1513-14 Nahmanides, Perush al hatorah
Talmud Babli, Abodah Zarah
1514 Bahya, Biur al hatorah
Gersonides, Perush al hatorah
1515 Later prophets with Kimhi
Talmud BabH, Moed Katon
Mahzor (German rite)
Talmud Babli, Sukkah
'" Erubin
FANO.
1516 Asheri, Turim
[142]
GERSON SONCINO
PESARO.
1517 Bible (2nd part)
Nathan ben Yehiel, Arukh
Bahya, Perush al Hatorah
PESARO.
1517 (?) Kimhi, Mahalah shebile Hadaat
ORTONA.
1518 Kimhi, Mahalah shebile Hadaat
PESARO.
1519
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
SALONICA.
1526 Mahzor
1526-7 Yalkut Shimeoni
1529 Mahzor
CONSTANTINOPLE.
1530 Siddur Tefillot
1530-1 Bulat, Kelal Kazer
Bashyazi, Aderet Eliyahu
1531 Hai Gaon, Musar Haskel, etc.
1530-2 Kimhi, Miklol
1532-4 Kimhi, Miklol
1532 Almoli, Shaar Hashem Hehadash
SALONICA.
1532-3 Kimhi, Shorashim
CONSTANTINOPLE.
1532-3 Yabez, Hasde Adonai
1533-4 Mizrahi, Sefer ha-Mispar
1533 Nissim, Derashot
1535 Immanuel, Mahberot
1536 Vital, Keter Torah
1537 David Cohen, Responsa
1536-7 Kalaz, Sefer hamussar
1538 Aboab, Nehar Pishon
Shalom, Neve Shalom
1539 Illescas, Imre Noam
1539-40 Asheri,Turim
1540 Algaba, Amadis de Gaul (?)
[144]
GERSON SONCINO
CONSTANTINOPLE.
1542 Ibn Yahya "Leshon Limmudim"
Shabbetai Minhat Yehuda'
'
1 543 '
[145
CHAPTER VII.
[146]
DANIEL ROMBERG
[147
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
fl48]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[149]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Wolf B. H. 2 : 945.
tVogelstein & Rieger "Geschichte der Juden in Rom" 2: 37
note 4; de Gubernatis "Materiaux pour servir a I'histoire des etudes
orientales en Italie" p. 37-38.
**p. 239.
tt 2: 48.
[150]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[151]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[152]
DANIEL ROMBERG
inhabitants.
We are not concerned with scholarly specula-
lation as to the origin of the Ghetto and of its
tH. B. 1 :17.
[153]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[155]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[156]
KaS^ na rinV vi3 i |ai3 Hc^ijun tuao^ n^o tdk Kn"3|fi WV^_ "l^tfi [<arfn«i,Ttora"wi n'oa nnfl vtl'ijr ym sjyjwi
^n'x(j3'n3(n3nn_hKTiinno_iiDyn'n3,n3iH)Ko'ii>(DnBfloSa'39iwn'$'^ Vl^,"3*PP.3'n3pwi^i«;n
nwanna Kn'Tu)'wa'p4) ipMij»ii»niifliJ'nyiK7i;DiKiwa'*n*'ivsi3iJiVM3ti3^^ Vn^.iPQil
S«^b'lU3T3^'n^DnllK^p'Dnv^,^?o^'*ov3^l^mlp^^Y^9^i^Kn'nB)^f^ *03g,f*tpn5|Bi^>rt»n^T^'<'T?*^,l'^*
"?9!r.?i?U33n3nnK^tiTn3in3ni';'Dni;,iDn3.n'iro^^ oprw^pTsinTinT^nnsmTnapTjg^
a'n3in3niNnAiDppann.V3Kni*;v^.3'V3^V(n'nvKnn'ti^>n wKDS^;H3iunD3y«rppmT)Si<^Bnic^nhWw
1 13-;D''33fil I JPDWl TDIM nv fij)' ftipp 'jJ p^ "W"! flBl W3l3 Ppsi ft 31' Tnft fr)J')1 -IJjrD ir D'pD O'fSft TOT rt^^^^
pr»*)MiS'j<'ftT -f^r inftnrD'")nDp»frifr?DiroPTiDb)P':s)ftSj)''njnr'JD"iin3ftrjn3Da»i3TD'/»'33? '
iPippj D'f* D'ft DTin DTw oiM,-' wjiaT rnniPm o-np Sj) dtjA'j 3D'>5 flippy jtjdp disjiJ 'a Ja »snpfn prfnprn frif7':> f idV ii nw
ran -jorii pcfiTiD-Jusiprr piioa piftjopSi f3iinpftf3TPniu-»n(ipiu ytSjiifriD' pn^SD DTpn rna ripJonfrw ^sfi ijTih>
irfi itfi 701DP pf<i iij)7» "iDfi oijp jAi i>TBn rA i-wpi ^sn if* 'S aiu 'spoftw
ii'ft t naioftt nrt irftS '"tot Sap tS pSud i"? tdA wiofri
»3 c ji'Tipi nrs napfta pp J lopsopa lofi p'Ssd fnosi pw 'isi nnas nop vsm ppva li i3 ppn e^ p' joa b mm rSft rimas yapft
-PD'ftfiiPiiTDftfrn-nj'a •pnii'OP'pil'DftSi -pssoJpftS
^rfi: TOft 3»TIK» b 5j) fifPO TD - lip DiSdPD iJp DIP DVTDP TD3 Offlpfip Ppio^S 11^13^ >» ' ^^^0^ TP^ 0'T*Dn | NU/
CTp "oijop i3D ifriB^i Dnnw I'D )3 ^zo W3 ns oPisp ti>c hi pyps '31 ip^ .5fri' !»» IPJi ijnsrftp'mppi
p 'J ft3P )i Tpfr 0) Jip:5 PSJOl t^T* p6plu» iW
PPJ1 13TP Ppi PilW f3 iwifi 'J» inft • ITOTpP DTJ* 6Tipr> TDJ
I
158 1
DANIEL BOMBERG
[159]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[160]
DANIEL ROMBERG
[162]
naw nsiD
tiiips w
Mor la ui ppP3i03 f3ri uropn 'Jm iM'aj'jis'KD'inSiDa'jm jpiSa Sips ppS ps 'sp'ps t^ p^ w
n
jnw ppon mpEspi cp pw'ft wft
Pn wi'BD' rpilPPPT'D
'jn [wniaD rHoa w isnniNi nsio p'Sdi 'OP ' psSps' p'J'psrKn
piarp dSm p'5 'JP 'pn^fnnn arw
ffpS
f
B'fi
iipiswipfniPpSr^^'i*
lyr [yoS enpbmnaiinic^'B'jn wo ifip:pp') wS TU ip3 fip^ifro ftn'i'
<ro'npjp S^I'^'P'' rms^ Sx3 p>j'?Nn3iB')X3'3e;v oiNpn 3'pn •jirJS's'pTD^ P3ID PDP IPT
P'^" ^D'pfI»
iri ilD'i >ri3 "P3DIP P12W3tPT
cAt3ftp>'p onoj! iipSpMsnispt* inaiD nioiyn nrya i>»'i!<"3iin'';ioK
rsiDTOm'pj fcoTiD'-sajppbjpS lUlDP 'TP ftSP pftljilf'IP'Jc'TI
lOK ,-i3iO'inNSi wanD'rp'nrnnya p^m ipip TIM «P ir^
ifipTiS piS
B)f r hsp I^T ro iTpnft fipniH
'
i?iD3fp"TlfnpjpDP n3ib'iv WN o'lip nnniay Si nnn n'S ispppft mi B-ftp ^M P3 ^uSd ftS"*
•jpfi iftpft [3 Dft sap ppift PDniD'5 itS ton y3pnTiis'7(( "unymnirm niuppplni wiP 'spoyippnpDJ)
MpunjpWpjp^piftM pmiT Ppn pft npp P3aiipfn DP*3^
SlpjiS Jjpi •]3'BiSn3HB)iv'nonB.'ynnyaKSN"3((
ppso'tpj nr 6iD onpppp'nc^p P510 h ft^•ipB^^^^ ' ^sa do
rif J DiDP "Jipfn -JPii 'ap'P jl'oN
un rth im n3io in nsSt 'oj on |3) Sy • )>Ka ppp ftsp: PT^rpp pto PPf'D
pirr» ppJ [npfti '^pip ip PTjP MTVT nisiy'iNi noN Dnmyiy^Vj'aKp CPlftSlPI pJODipP^lPO'PTBW
pippJ. ip)!ipri3'np3P^«ftl8
pppp^mip' D-JiTfipiT^pji^Dua P'flj 'ojyspnTin'STsyo'xiynn
rp TftiropiDPpifiiDnpM PTnynp) pprr pkbA T^* cidpp
"jpy)^
' i]3p'SpippDfi)'fiT»P5:ppOTnPiDP'fi'nWftPW»yoTWrtvfih)WTO^wpp)cnip'p35T3K'53inTp
oip
II I 9 ft
* This single brand plucked from the burning, together with the
Bomberg printed edition, has become the basis for the much criticized
but, nevertheless, important attempt at a scientifically revisedmodern
edition of the Talmud, now in process of publication under the direction
of Lazarus Goldschmidt at Berlin.
t Rabb. "Maamar" p. 31 note 36.
[164]
DANIEL BOM BERG
[165]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
Thalmud, sed ecclesiam, non Reuchlin per nos, sed nos per Reuchlin
servatos et defenses intelligimus.
From letter of Reuchlin in 1516, cited by Graetz 9 155 note 1.:
[167:
CHAPTER VIII.
[168]
DANIEL BOMBERG
Prato left for Rome,*
up missionary work
to take
to his former brethren in faith,
and for reasons
unknown he dedined the invitation of Pope Leo
X to take charge of the Hebrew Press about to be
estabUshed there under Papal patronage.f It is
possible that he was so offensive to Elijah Levita
forwhose benefit the Roman press was established
that Elijah's patron Cardinal Egidio may have
induced the Pope to intimate to Felice that he was
expected to decline the invitation. The Hebrew
press at Rome was established and ended in 1518,
a year in which Bomberg printed only one small
book, the Psalms, —apparently
devoting himself
to preparation for the great activity of the fol-
lowing years.
With the completion of the Talmud Bomberg
lost second editor Rabbi Hiyyah Meir b.
his
David who left Venice for the East. He still had
as printers the Adelkind family, of whom Cornelio
had virtually become his righthand man. But
new and editors now joined
assistants correctors
his press, Jacob b. Hayyim ibn Adonijah the
Tunisian, Abraham de Balmes, distinguished phy-
sician and scholar, Hayyim b. Moses Alton and
David Pizzighettone. Abraham de Balmes whose
grammar the "Mikne Abraham" was printed by
Bomberg shortly after the author's death in 1523,
was distinguished in many fields, as physician
*Z. H. B. 10 -.33.
[169:
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[170]
03nn i^nv pnpn nso
fip^ls 3DP ts'sD W3 Pf o':a"j3 opiJBw »rf6c» <|)p»5'i)p oSdp
Ss bh 13 npii >'5» Dpbn omafi nrra rjftSi roTJ rjftwn
riD'ftp 3"}) 'ran crw pipo rsf>lti »fli3j »5:j) »5p:p
6 r")j5pwr"5jiprifioM
nppfiip
»r6
pnp)tep3 0")36p:j»
«t3i3fJp:ppjppfi")npM 'CTP!
[172]
DANIEL ROMBERG
And now Bomberg is obliged again to lock
horns with the power of the authorities. It seems
that in 1525 his privilege to print expired, where-
upon he petitioned for a renewal. Notwithstand-
ing the powerful endorsement of the Chiefs of the
Council ofTen and an offer of one hundred ducats
by Bomberg "the motion was put and lost", says
Marino Sanuto in his Diaries, "and this for the
second time; and it was well done, and I had a
good hand in it; for he printed books in Hebrew
that were against the faith." The next day the
vote was put again with Bomberg's offer of one
hundred and fifty ducats and again was lost.*
Had Sanuto merely recorded his opposition to
Bomberg without assigning a reason we might more
easily understand it for he was always in opposi-
tion. In recording his speeches in the Senate he
usually begins "lo Marin Sanudo contradixi", and
his vote against Bomberg might have been set
down as the natural expression of his constitutional
inability to allow any proposition to be adopted.
The reason of Sanuto' s opposition is not to be
found in his piety, for his library, the most won-
derful in Venice, contained all things Christian and
[173;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
t Fumagalli, p. 478, says 300,000 ecus for the Talmud and 3,000,000
ecus for all the books, Wolf, quoting Scaliger, B. H. 2 895 says: "Bom-
:
[174]
DANIEL ROMBERG
* Sacchi p. 35.
the various parishes give us, under San Paternian, a variety of printers'
names. In the Estimo of 1514 we find Andrea da AxoUa in this parish,
living in a house belonging to the Doge Nicolo Tron, for which he paid
sixty ducats a year. From the same source we learn that Lazzaro
de Soardi stampador et compagni also rented a house in San Paternian,
the property of Alvise Ruzier, for which they paid thirty-one ducats
a year. But though San Paternian was the great centre of the printers,
we find them scattered all over the town, at Sant' Angelo, at San Stin,
at SS. Apostoli, at'San Lio, at San Giacomo dall' Orio, and very many
in the parish of Santa Maria Formosa. Brown "Venet Print. Press"
100, 101.
[175]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[176]
DANIEL ROMBERG
and high cap, with the dignity of the successful
man and the urbanity of the cosmopoHte. In this
company are found some who have forced their
way into the company of their betters in order to
shine by reflected light. One of these was the
apostate who challenged Soncino to write Hebrew
verses and who was so fiercely abused by that in-
dignant craftsman.*
In some respects, the contrast between Daniel
Bomberg and Gerson Soncino is striking; Bom-
berg the Christian permanently established in rich
Venice, printing splendid books for Jewish readers,
* This fellow was probably one of that class who so annoyed and
embittered Aldo Manuzio, and compelled him to take somewhat drastic
means to protect himself. In 1S14, a year before his death, Aldo
wrote a letter to a friend in which he says: "I am hampered in my
work by a thousand interruptions. Nearly every hour comes a
. . .
[177]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
Aderet Eliyahu
(the Talmud of the Karaites) .. 1
[179]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[180]
DANIEL BOMBERG
"
Tide page of " Investigation of tke World
Adelk£nd, Venice. 1546
[181]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[182]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[183]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[184]
DANIEL BOMBERG
for ten years uninterruptedly. I resided at his
house and instructed him, for which there was a
great outcry against me, and it was not considered
1185 1
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[186]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[187]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[188]
DANIEL ROMBERG
graver sojourning in Venice 1546-48 and again in
1556 cut Hebrew types for Marc Antonio Giusti-
niani and Meir Parenzo (whom he calls Maz de
Perense). He made a collection of specimens of
Hebrew types cut by other engravers among them
types used in a Hebrew Commentary of "Messer
Cornelio, Chrestien baptise, correcteur en I'im-
primerie des Bombergues". There can be no
doubt of the identity of this Messer Cornelio and
it justifies the theory that some time after 1545
he apostatized.*
After 1527 the press of Bomberg was chiefly
occupied with the second edition of the Talmud.
Nothing was printed in 1528 except Talmud and
Mishnah. In 1529 the Karaite prayer book in
four volumes for the Crimea Turkey Poland and
Lithuania, a prayer book according to the German
rite, Kimhi's Book of Roots and seven Talmudic
[189:
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[190]
CHAPTER IX.
[191]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
*The fine paper used in the Bomberg books was used later at
Mantua as appears by comparison of the quality and water mark an
anchor in a circle with a star above it.
[192]
DANIEL BOMBERG
193]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[194]
ti3 rwxwfinoTpnii
[196]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[197:
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
10 : 28.
[199]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[200]
DANIEL BOMBERG
Ikkarim
Asheri's Commentary on Pentateuch
Bahya
Iggerot Rambam
Ben Sira
Pirke d' Rabbi Eliezer
Halihot Olam
Menorat Hamaor
Sefer Hayashar (Ersch & Gruber 44)
to which may be added:
Yosippon.
1 Rabb. "Maamar" p. 47.
** It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the several functions of
the employees of the Hebrew presses. As a rule the printer is known
as "madfis" or "mehokek"; in later times at the smaller presses he
was the same as the master of the press, "baal madfis" or the owner
of the press, "baal hadefus". His name is usually introduced by the
word "bidfus'' corresponding to the Latin "excudebat" or by the
words "al yede" equivalent to the Latin "opera" Some masters
of the press spoke of themselves as "called to the press'', "hukam al
[201]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
merely the house in which the press was established. At the larger
presses in addition to the owner there was a foreman or inspector or
factor, such as Adelkind, of Venice, "nizab al hadefus", also "ben
meshek", administrator; "neeraan beto", procurator. The proof
reader or corrector is the "magiha", (cura, studio.) Sometimes
the factor and the proof reader were the same person. The compositor
is known as the "'mezaref" and also "mesader". The actual printer
has no Hebrew technical name and is included in the general word
"poel" or "omen", ("confectus ab" or "compositus per") workman.
This also includes the compositors. Christian workmen are frequently
used as compositors; and it may be noted that the proof readers fre-
quently complained of the latter on account of the numerous mistakes
caused by their ignorance of the Hebrew. Jewish converts to Christianity
and Christian converts to Judaism are not uncommon among the
workmen at the press. Thus Di Gara at Venice had only Christian
compositors; on the other hand, Moses of Modena in order to im-
prove his press at Salonica sent for Christian compositors from Venice;
two of whom became converts to Judaism. The publisher is the "mebi
lebet hadefus", he may furnish the cost of publication, in which case
the work is issued at his "hozaot", "impensis", "sumptibus", or in
his name "beshem", "nomine"
See Ersch & Gruber 29; Steinschneider Cat. Bodl. LXH-LXHI;
Brown "Venet. Print. Press" p. 24.
* Not Brucello, as Steinschneider has it. Ersch & Gruber 44.
There is no Brucello printing in Venice according to Cicogna's list of
printers given by Brown "Venet. Print. Press" Appendix VI.
t Ruah Hen, 1544.
} Antonio Brucioli, the brother of Francesco, was one of the fre-
quenters of the philosophical symposia in the gardens of Rucellai at
Florence.
[202]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[203]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[204]
DANIEL ROMBERG
[205
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[206]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[207;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
p. 212.
[208]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[209]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* He had one of the largestHebrew libraries of the time and was one
of the founders of the second Hebrew press at Rome in that very year
1S47.
t Masio's teacher of Arabic whom Cornelio met at Romberg's in
1538.
t Mag'co M. Andrea. Altre volte ho visto vostre litere i man
de Rabbi Eliyah Hamedakdek e pur assai volte avemo ragionato dela
S. V. e a desso che io ho inteso che la V. S. dice venir qua a star alcun
tempo I casa deli mei padroni bombergi tanto me son pur contento e
Rabbi Eliyah e mi noi aspeterao lora che veniti e che fatti qualche
bella cosa laudabil como spero. Li nostri siniori bombergi vi mandano
el Moreh latino da veder ed intender la vostra opinion circa la corecion
che a fatto fra paduano e cossi dela translatacio, io credo tanto sol vi
[210]
DANIEL BOMBERG
roma ebreo amico deli bombergi e raio in particolare che a nome binianira
de iosef de ariniano el qual M. Gulielmo lo cogniosce bene, il qual ebreo
vi trovava il more
ebreo e ancora qualche altro libro che vi bisogniasse;
i
io so che seti desideroso de libri de Cabbalah, qui sene trova ben parte,
si venerite quili troveremo per copiar senza spesa; io vi mando una
mostra del Moreh in quel mode che pensamo de farlo e direti ancora
voi la vostra opinion del sesto (testo?) quello che vi pare e non guar-
dati sol ca (se?) fosse qualche erbri, sapiati che el e la prima stampa
senza esser corecta; perdonati me prosumtuoso a. scri-
se son stato
vervi e non anco mai vistovi no anche parlato; larte mia non e de saper
scriver maxime a un tal homo como stati; ma me confido nela vostra
bonta alaqual sempre me aricomando, stati sano. da vinezia adi 21,
magio del 47.
Cornelio Adelkind.
(Addressed)
Al Mag'co M. Andrea Masio
Roma.
Pedes "Beitrage" p. 209.
[211]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[212]
DANIEL BOMBERG
and furthermore there are others here among the
Jews which can be borrowed for copying. I have
recommended you to your friend and my Master
Messer Nicolo Stopio and your Rabbi EHjah
Levita. My Master! I think I shall not write
again without begging pardon for my presumption
being so awkward in writing. My excuse is that
I am a German and you know well how 'delicate'
we are in writing* but the will is good. We pray
God that he give you long life that you may be
able to do things pleasing to God and the world.
From Venice June 11, 1547.
Your Cornelio Adil-Chind."t
* A phrase wherein Cornelio characterizes the heaviness of his
countrymen of whom Joshua Soncino said that they are stammerers,
slow of speech and unable either by word or pen to express the deep
thoughts of their hearts. Kore Hadorot ed. Cassel, 29 a.
fMag'co M. Andrea de questi giorni passati io ebe una vostra de
28 de magic ami molto gratissima, ala qual non poti dar risposta per el
primo curer per non aver tanto tempo comedo ala qual adesso furo
parte del mio debito de rispondervi meglio che sapero; e prima sapiati
che io ho fatto le debite salutacione de parte vostra a Rabbi EHjah
Levi, el qual vi videria volutiera inante che el vada apatrem; sapiati
che el e molto vecchio e non sta tropo i Cervello lui Zavaria spessi
volte. E che ritardivesti la vostra venuta qua e anche stati i dubio de
venirce certo el mie rinchresce che io pensava che feriste gran frutto
melefede (?) paciencia la vostra volunta sia et i vro honor e per tutto
onde sarite vi voglio esser bon servitore e quando me comandovite
sempre me trovarite pronto ali vostri comandi secondo la mia forza:
di fra paduano che el sea iniorante de leshon hakodesk lui apena cogniosce
le leteri ebraiche: el bisogniaria tradur questo Moreh Nebukkim de novo
afar bene: i quanto al more i leshon hakodesh io vene ho 4 pezi scritti
amano antigissimi co la dechiaracion deli milat zarot me el bisogniaria
a voler far bene e utile al mondo stampulo con un comento el se trova
;
[213;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
digando che questi coraentatori la tirano alor modo contra el voler del
autor e cosi non so corao lo faremo ancora. Jo ho visto la vostra poliza
deli libri de Cabbalah, per mia fe che stati bene e aveti de belle cose.
Li libri che noi avemo sono questi, Shaar Hayesod, Shaar Hayihud,
Sefer Habahir, Sefer Yezirah, Hakanah, Meirat Enayim, Imre Shefer,
Eser Sefirot, Temunot vesitre Torah vegam Sod Razai, Sefirot e poi qui
sene trova altro fra ebrei che se poderia aver per imprestido per copiar,
io viho ricomandato al vro amico e mio signior M. nic'o stopio e al
vostro Rabbi elia levita; signior mio non so che scrivervi altro per ora
se non pregavi che me perdonati se son presumtuoso ascrivervi essen-
domi cosi gofo nel scriver, la mia scusa sara che son todesco e voi
sapetti bene como siamo gentile nel scriver, ma la volunta e bona:
pregamo dio che vi dia vita longa e che posseti far cossa grata adio
e al mondo, da Vinezia adi 11 da Gugnio 1S47.
tutto vostro Cornelio adil chind.
(Addressed)
date a. M. Andrea Masio patro honor'do in Roma.
Perles "Beitraege" 210.
[214]
Title page of Pesikta Zutarta
Bomber^, Venice, 1546
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
t Fumagalli 478.
JB.H. 4:449.
If Daniel Bombergus,
Antwerpianus, multis Hebraeorum Rabbi-
nicorumque voluminum editionibus, earundem accurata correctione,
eleganti typorum forma, nitore solidae chartae purissimo, per annorum
fere quadraginta spatium omnium iis temporibus artificum princeps;
nee minus famae in Hebraicis, quam Aldus in Graecis, consecutus.
[216]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[2171
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
Psalms
Proverbs, Canticles & Ecclesiastes
1255 Mikraot Gedolot 2d ed.
Darke Hanikkud ve-haneginot
Pentateuch
Talm. Babli Pessahim (2d edition of
Talmud)
1526 Talm. Babli HulUn
" Sukkah
" Gittin
" Shebuot
Mishnah Abot
Bible
Mahzor (Roman rite)
1527 Mizrahi's commentary on Rashi
Pentateuch
Job and Daniel
Talmud Babli Horayot
" Ketubot
" Yerushalmi Shekalim
1528 " Babli Bekhorot
" Erakhin
" Temurah
" " Meila, Kinnim, Middot,
Tamid, Semahot,
Soferim
[220]
DANIEL BOMBERG
[221]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
1537 Psalms
1538 Massoret hamassoret
Tub Taam
Talmud Babli Baba Kamma
" Taanit
" MegiUa
Psalms
Proverbs, Canticles, Ecclesiastes, Job &
Daniel
Rashi
1539 Responsa of Benjamin Zeeb
Mishnah Abot
Moed Katon
Talmud Babli Shebuot
Shebile Tohu
1543 Pentateuch Megillot & Haftarot
(several editions)
1544 Bible
Pentateuch & Megillot
Psalms, Job, Daniel
Pentateuch
Mahzor (Spanish rite)
1545 Mizrahi's commentary on Rashi
Midrash Rabba
" Tanhuma
Seder Maamadot
Psalms (Germ, trans.)
Mekhilta
Sifra
Sifri
Miklol
[222]
DANIEL ROMBERG
1545
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
224'
CHAPTER X.
A GREAT
course
sea;
river sends down
every pool and back water along its
its
[225]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[226]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
glot editions of the books of the Bible in which
scholarship displayed itself in producing parallel
versions of the texts in many languages. It con-
tains theHebrew text, the Greek Septuagint, the
Latin Vulgate, the Chaldaic paraphrase, the
Arabic translation, a Latin translation of the
Chaldaic and a collection of notes by the editor.
No Jew was permitted to participate in the publi-
cation of this edition of one of the greatest pro-
ductions of the Hebrew genius, and indeed, al-
though Hebrew letters were ardently cultivated
by educated Genoese,* the Doge Ottaviano Fre-
goso at the very time of the publication of this book
was decreeing the exile from Genoa of all its Jew-
ish residents.! In the house of Nicolo Giustiniani
Paulo the book was printed by Pietro Paolo Porro
of MilanJ after ten months labor by the scholarly
Bishop.
He spared no expense in securing a perfect
piece of typography, and in addition to paying
for the entire edition of 2,000 copies, he had fifty
copies especially printed on vellum for presentation
to royalty. His notes to the text show that his
love of learning was equalled by his love for his
church for his not inconsiderable scholarship is
[2271
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
has gone out through all the earth and their words
to the end of the world," a text which he interprets
in the manner of Paul in the tenth chapter of his
Epistle to the Romans, the bishop says: "In our
own times by his wonderful daring, Christopher
Columbus, the Genoese, has discovered almost
another world and a new congregation of Christians.
In truth, as Columbus often maintained that God
[228]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
had chosen him as the instrument for the fulfill-
ment of this prophecy, I deem it not improper here
to refer to his life."
About 75 miles northwest of Genoa, between
the cities of Turin and Milan, town
lies the little
[229]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[230]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
Jewish craftsmen, the recognition of Christianity
was a necessary pre-requisite to admission into the
guilds, and therefore the Jewish silkweavers of
Bologna if they organized at all were probably
^
^ 5 \ % \ II i i in ^
OiWj, *»
•^
CCA
"^s^ At ^'^
It
t-fc.
A
-** v^ ^-^
'•>
[231]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[232]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
at Rome. The nine books published bythem are
of varying degrees of importance, a volume of
legal decisions, some rabinnical works, portions of
the Bible and books of devotion. Among their
prayer books was the first Italian translation of
the Hebrew prayer book, published with Hebrew
letters and known as the Tefillot Latini, which
enabled women and unlearned men to follow the
prayers understandingly. For at all times, as is
well known, instruction in Hebrew and Jewish
literature was almost exclusively confined to boys,
and often, particularly in troublous times when
communities were in deadly peril, even they
learned only enough Hebrew to be able to read the
prayers and follow the reading of the law. This
prayer book shows the effect of the censorship
before publication, established by the Pope twenty
years before, for in the prayer beginning with the
words: "It is incumbent upon us to praise the
Master of all", this edition omits the sentence:
"For they bow down to idols and vanities, and
worship a god in whom there is no salvation," a
sentence interpreted by the censors to be a scornful
reference to the worship of saints and relics and to
the adoration of the crucified son of God. And
we read: "For they worship and bow down
—
to what? Unfortunately for the Church, men's
thoughts could not be controlled, and the pious
readers were free to fill in the gap as they chose.
The folly of censorship as an attempt to suppress
knowledge is self-evident, yet for centuries, even
[233]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Manzoni 1 : 99.
[234]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
Near the Ponte Quattro Capi (Bridge of the
Four Heads) at the southeastern entrance to the
Ghetto of Rome, stands the Httle church of the
Incannuciata, notable no doubt in its day for many
a successful capture of stray Jewish souls, but dis-
tinguished in no wise today except for an inscrip-
tion in Hebrew over its portal intended as a rebuke
to the stiflfnecked dwellers in the Ghetto. The
Ghetto thanks to the government of the Kingdom
of Italy is no more, and the inscription taken from
the words of the great prophet of Israel now faces
a broad open square where once stood the wretched
houses. It is the crucified Jesus who from the
church door cries in the words of Isaiah, "I have
spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious
people which walketh in a way that was not good
after their own thoughts; a people that pro-
voketh me to anger continually to my face."
Formerly this inscription adorned the doorway
of another church at the opposite side of the
Ghetto, the church of Santa Maria del Pianto
(Holy Mary of Weeping). Why Santa Maria
shed tears here is unknown, whether for the stiff-
necked Jews who dwelling before the face of her
church refused to worship at her shrine, or for the
[235]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[236]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
patron to the Jews the humanists the men of the
arts and sciences. Through the influence of his
private physician Bonet de Lattes, known to
every denizen of the Jewish district, and without
doubt well acquainted with Elijah Levita the
Hebrew grammarian whose advent from Padua
Leo
'ope Xjco X.
[2381
SOME MINOR PRESSES
into the palace, and they became teacher and
pupil, exchanging knowledge and sharpening each
other like iron upon iron. "And God enlightened
the mind of this wise and learned man and. . .
[239;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[240]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
the "holy work" of the press in the Piazza Mon-
tanara. "Grazia e privilegio" by grace and per-
mission of the Papal Vicar, the book appeared,
first of all Hebrew books to be subjected to Chris-
p. 202.
[241]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* The
following list of these books is taken from Steinschneider's
article inErsch & Gruber p. 35; Sacchi p. SO; De Rossi "Ann. Sec.
XV." 121-129; Freimann "Ueber hebr. Ink." p. 8; Jew. Enc. Art.
" Incunabula."
1. Maimonides "Moreh Nebuhim" (small folios).
2. Moses de Coucy "Semag" (large folio).
3. Nahmanides "coram, on Pentateuch" (large folio).
4. Nathan ben Jehiel "Arukh" (folio).
5. Rashi, "coram, on Pentateuch." (large quarto).
6. Gersonides "comra. on Daniel" (quarto).
7. Kimhi "Shorashim" (large folio)
8. Solomon ben Adret "Responsa" (quarto).
9. Maimonides "Yad " 2 vols, (large folio).
10. Psalms without points (duodecirao)
11. Psalms with index and grace after meals (duodecimo).
12. and Jeremiah.
Kirahi, Isaiah
De 1 and 2 belong to the same press and Nos.
Rossi thinks Nos.
3 to 7 have same types. No. 7 was printed after 1478 for its epigraph
refers to an event of that year; Z. H. B. 7 25. :
[242]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
Lattes the physician of Alexander VI. could surely
have accomplished as much with that easy going
tyrant as Elijah Levita at a later date with Leo X.
Bonet printed an astronomical treatise dedicated
to Alexander VI. in 1493 and another one in 1498
at Christian presses.* There were Jewish printers
from Rome in various Italian citiesf but no satis-
factory proof that they or any one else printed
Hebrew books at Rome.
We are not concerned with the disputes of the
bibliographers,and until they agree we may safely
assume that the burden of proof is upon those who
allege that Hebrew books were produced in Rome
before 1518. The same arguments that point to
Rome might be used for proof of an early Hebrew
press at Florence or Venice. Florence the home
of the Muses had a flourishing press as early as
1471, yet no Hebrew book was pubHshed there
until 1700; Venice freest of all the States of Italy
printed upwards of 2,800 books before 1500, but
none in Hebrew. Hebrew printing began in the
smaller States, in Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, in
* Vogelstein & Rieger 2 : 81-82.
t Samuel b. Abi Samuel at Naples 1486, Israel Ashkenazi at
Pesaro 1511-14. Vogelstein &
Rieger 2 114. :
[243]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[244]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
tical intolerance. But in Italy they say "E osti-
nato come un Ebreo," and it was the determined
obstinacy of the Jew that, despite threats and
pains, blandishments and bribes, saved him and his
literature from destruction. Even the non-He-
brew press had a thorny path in the Eternal City.
Unlike the presses in the smaller principalities it
had no noble patrons whose pride it was to support
an enterprise which redounded to their glory. Its
ecclesiastical patrons, intent with very few ex-
ceptions on using it as a means of furthering the
glory of God, cared little for the welfare of the
printers, and its history in the city of Rome is a
record of bankruptcies. The magnificent folios
of Schweinheim and Pannartz, printed on paper
that rivals vellum in its beauty and durability,
with types that imitate the calligraphy of the
masters of the art, are to-day the admiration and
deUght of booklovers. The Pope's librarian the
Bishop of Aleria gave himself up unreservedly to
the work of furthering their splendid work; he
ransacked the library of the Vatican for manu-
scripts to furnish them with "copy", he read
proofs and himself stood at the press to superin-
tend the work, but when the time came as it came
to the pioneers when the expenses of their
all
* De typ-hebr-Ferrar. p. ix.
[246]
1
5,;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[248]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
At the time when Pier Luigi Farnese was en-
tering his new Duchy, Maestro Antonio Blado
d'Asola, who had had some experience in printing
Hebrew texts,* filed his petition in partnership
with two of the leading Jews of Rome praying for
leave to print Hebrew books in Rome. This was
granted by the Papal Vicar, who was also one of
the censors of the press, and on the 13th of Jan-
[249]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
in the great Plain of Lombardy; here Andrea Torresano was born, the
successor of Nicolas Jensen at Venice, the father-in-law of Aldo Manu-
zio and the successor of that great printer in 1515.
[250]
SOME MINOR PRESSES
in the Campo di Fiore * and he was accustomed
Hke many of the great printers of the time notably
the great Hebrew printer Gerson Soncino to wan-
der about carrying his presses with him. Unlike
Gerson however he always came back again to his
headquarters at Rome.f
The incense-laden atmosphere of Rome, how-
ever, was fatal to the production of Hebrew books, J
and after issuing five books in 1547^ the press so
auspiciously begun came to an end. The Inquisi-
tion and its censors could not tolerate a Hebrew
press under the very shadow of St. Peter's** and
although some books were printed in 1578 they
were merely Bible texts printed by a Christian
and edited by an apostate none other than the
grandson of EHjah Levita.
[251]
CHAPTER XI.
[252]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
lived, for although his press began with splendid
prospects and showed great activity, his strength
was not equal to the contest with the rising
Bragadini, and after a short but fierce competition
the glory of the house of Giustiniani departed and
his proud printer's mark was supplanted by the
three crowns of his successful rival. At the outset
of his career he secured the services of the force
of the Dei Farri press, including the master printer
Cornelio Adelkind who after serving Giustiniani
for a short time, apparently to help establish his
press,resumed his work exclusively at the Romberg
press until Romberg's death, when he returned to
the service of Giustiniani remaining with him until
the press came to a standstill in 1552. Cornelio's
son Daniel now a printer of well established repu-
tation also served at Giustiniani's press, dedicating
one of his books Das Frauenbuechlein in 1552, to
his father Cornelio as a gift from a devoted son.
The partners Judah b. Isaac Halevi Ashkenazi of
Frankfurt and Dr. Yehiel Yekutiel Ha-Cohen
b.
likewise joined the Giustiniani press and con-
tributed to the success of the fine edition of the
Rabylonian Talmud published 1546-1551.* Gius-
tiniani's types were cut by Michel Du Roisf and
[253]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
editions of Soncino { ;
and it in turn became the
basis for subsequent editions.^ It has almost com-
pletely disappeared** for it was published just
before the decree of Pope Julius III. against the
Talmud.
Of far greater importance than the productions
of the Giustiniani press was the personal rivalry
between Giustiniani and Bragadini, one incident
of which totally unforeseen was of far-reaching
consequences for the Jews of Italy. The innocent
first cause of what was really a national Jewish
[254]
Title pa^e of Ratbi Stem ToL's Homilies
Giustiniani, Venice, 1547
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
so called from the rabbi's birthplace in Hesse-
Nassau.*
Among the rabbi'sliterary labors was an edition
of Maimonides' Code of the Law, "The Strong
Hand"t a book that was already well known
in the Jewish book markets, for it had been
printed four times, first at an unknown time
and place again in 1490 at Soncino the third time
in 1509 by the house of Nahmias at Constantinople
and finally in 1524 by Bomberg. When Rabbi
Meir concluded to seek a publisher, he naturally
turned to Venice which harbored the only Hebrew
press in Italy. The year 1549 was a period of
extraordinary inactivity. Indeed there were but
three houses in the world that were printing
rabbinical books, Parnas at Constantinople the
sons of Gershon Cohen at Prague and Giustiniani
at Venice, and excluding Giustiniani's Talmud
texts there were probably not half a dozen Hebrew
books published in the world. For reasons un-
known to us Giustiniani did not satisfy the rabbi
and he determined to establish a new press, by
associating some enterprising
himself with and
influential Such a man he found in
Christian.
Alvise Bragadini under whose name a press was
established which in the year 1550 published Rabbi
Meir's edition of "The Strong Hand." Scarcely
had the book appeared when another edition of
the full text of "The Strong Hand" was thrown
* Jew. Enc. 7 : 4S4.
t Yad hahazakah.
[255]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[256]
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[258]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
the rabbinical court of Rabbi Moses Isserles was
the indirect one of enjoining all Jews under pain
of excommunication (Herem) from purchasing the
,
[259]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[260]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
leges dearly purchased from some predecessor in
the chair of St. Peter.
It seems strange that an Italian rabbi familiar
with this system of statecraft, should have failed
to foresee the result of antagonizing a Venetian
patrician or perhaps Rabbi Meir believed himself
;
[261]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
the grandson of Elijah Levita (Vogelstein & Rieger 2: 146) or, what
seems to be the better opinion, his brother Giovannni Battista (Jew.
Enc. 2 500; Berliner 2 107).
: :
[262]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
all the market places of Italy.
Both of the original
parties to the quarrelwent under in the fight,
Giustiniani in 1552 * and Bragadini in 1554.
When in that year the long expected blow fell, a
general decree of confiscation of Hebrew books
was enforced throughout the greater part of Italy
and the Hebrew press at Venice was silenced for
a period of nine years.f
None of the parties interested in the original
dispute between the rival houses of Giustiniani and
Bragadini had any intimation of its far-reaching
effect. The apostate calumniators of the Hebrew
books had a free field at Rome, and the strong
support of the Dominican monks, who were then
as ever during the century-long battle for the
emancipation of thought the strongest foes of all
theological opinion other than their own. They
levelled against the Talmud the old old charges
that had been made and refuted time and again.
The Vatican archives contained many Bulls and
Edicts that ought to have settled the question
without further investigation, for Rome above all
places should have respected the maxim "Stand
by the decisions." But the darkened intellect of
the Dominicans was unable to see in the Talmud
and its commentaries anything but literature
inimical to their Christianity, and in response to
their persistent agitation for its suppression a new
* In 1574 another Giustiniani, Antonio, was tried for press offenses
by the Inquisition. Brown "Yen. Print. Press" App. VII.
t All Venetian Hebrew presses stopped 15SS-1S63; Steinschneider
Cat. Bodl. No. 174.
[263]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[264]
PAyrVS TV PAEA TSTEAPOnTATSHAS
> ' » >
- jrff^vj^.V-i-'.ii^tP"
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[266]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
the Palestinian and the Babylonian Talmuds.
All Jews were ordered on pain of confiscation of
all their property to deliver up their copies of
[267]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[268]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
the Ark, but the leaders of the congregation arose
and stood in the breach and saved them from their
hands." The zeal of the apostate carried him too
far. The pleadings of the Jewish congregation
raised doubts in the minds of the "Executors
against Blasphemy" as to the correctness of the
apostate's opinion. The men who sat in judg-
ment were Venetian patricians whose
in this case
self-respect compelled them to assume an attitude
of fairness, and the arguments and reasons urged
against Eleazar's opinion finally bore fruit. The
"Executors against Blasphemy" in order to secure
additional expert information appointed a com-
mittee of three, who defined the terms "com-
pendiums summaries and books depending on the
Talmud," in a manner that betrayed no desire to
extend the terms beyond their proper meaning,
whereupon the decree was promptly carried into
execution.*
Among the sufferers in Venice was Rabbi Judah
di Lerma who in the second edition of his "Bread
ofJudah" (Lehem Yehudah) says: "I printed my
book in Venice and in the beginning of the year
5314 (1553) the powers at Rome decreed that
throughout Christendom the Talmud and its
commentaries should be burned. In the month
of Marheshvan (October) they decreed at Venice
that on a Sabbath day the Talmud together with
its commentaries the codes of Alfasi and the books
of the Mishnah should be burned together.
* Popper p. 35.
[269]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[270]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
and the Elector Palatine Frederick II * but all
in vain; his books seem to have met the common
fate. In a subsequent letter to a prelate at Rome
he says that the mere loss of money although
great was of much less importance to him, than
the shame of "this most godless sacrilege that was
performed by the leading men of our faith to our
eternal disgrace in the eyes of posterity." As to
the Signoria of Venice this body of practical
gentlemen from whose commercial instinct and
cosmopolitanism better things might have been
expected, Masio says in another letter, "Your
wise Senate who ought rather to have laughed at
that stupid contemptible decree than to have
countenanced it, did immediately after the receipt
of this papal decree exceed even this Roman im-
piety, for that is the proper name for it."
In spite of great influence brought to bear by
scholars and liberal men the decree could not be
averted. The Jews themselves made herculean
efforts to save their books; the leaders of their
community at Rome appeared before the pope
and despite the opposition of Carafifa himself and
his apostate advisers defended their books so well
that on May 29 1554 the pope probably induced
by Cardinal Sacristo who as a Hebrew scholar was
opposed to the destruction of the Hebrew books,
issued a Bull which was intended to modify the
severity of his earlier edict.f This Bull directed
* Perles "Beitraege" 223.
t Popper p. 38.
[271
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[272]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
ecclesiastical officials. While priests in their offi-
cialrobes marched in procession, holding up to the
people boxes of dry bones as things worthy of their
worship, the fires kindled by their followers were
consuming the precious distillation of two thousand
years of living imperishable intellect.*
En Yaakob
Zeror Hamor
Otiot di Rabbi Akiba
Midrash Rabba
Agur
* Dr. Berliner states that at his first visit to Rome in 1873 he did
not find a single copy of a Talmudic treatise of early editions among
the people. But splendid specimens were preserved in the Vatican
and Casanate libraries. "Censur" p. 8 note.
t See Ersch & Gruber 44; Z. H. B. 9 152, 61; Jew. Enc.
: 1 : 190;
[273]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
Abudarham
Pentateuch & commentaries
Talmud Babli Eduyot
Mishnah Moed
" Nezikin
Nashim
Talmud Babli Bezah
1548 " " Rosh Hashana
" " Taanit
" Ketubot
" " Baba Kamma
" Baba Mezia
" Baba Batra
Ohel Moed
1549 Talmud Babli Hagigah
" Moed Katon
" " Sukkah
" Megillah
" " Yebamot
" " Sanhedrin
" " Shebuot
1550 " " Shabbat
" " Erubin
[274]
GIUSTINIANI AND BRAGADINI
1550 Talmud Babli Pessahim
" Yoma
" Shekalim
" Kiddushin
" Gittin
" Sotah
" Makkot
" Aboda Zara
" Hullin
" Bekhorot
" Erakhin
" Keritut
" " Temurah
" Meila
" Kinnin
" Tamid
" Middot
" Semahot, Kalla, Sofer-
im Derekh Erez
Rabba ve Zutta
Abot d' Rabbi Na-
than
Millat Hahigayon
Yad Hahazakah
1551 Talmud Babli Nedarim
" Nazir
" Horayot
" " Zebahim
" Menahot
" Niddah
Orah Hayyim
[275]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[276]
CHAPTER XII.
[277]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Of all the ancient houses of the Jews of Italy, that of the Abraban-
boasted most ancient descent, even from the house of King David.
elli
"His children", says Mr. Howells, speaking of Don Isaac, in his enter-
taining "Italian Journeys," "still abide in Ferrara; and it may have
been one of his kingly line that kept the tempting antiquarian shop
on the corner from which you turn up toward the library. I should
think such a man would find a sort of melancholy solace in such a
place; filled with broken and fragmentary glories of every kind, it
would serve him for that chamber of desolation set apart in the houses
[278]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
assisted at the second press at Rome in 1546, began
to print Hebrew books at Ferrara. Perhaps
Abraham Zarfati then professor at the University
of Ferrara was a kinsman of this Samuel, and this
holding of a professorship by a Jew may be another
indication of the tolerance that made possible the
establishment of a Hebrew press. Samuel printed
six books among them a work on medicine another
on the interpretation of dreams two on the laws
of kosher slaughtering and two philosophical works,
one of which entitled "Fountains of Salvation" by
Don Isaac Abrabanel was the first book of this
press, printed January 22 1551. The taste of
Jewish readers was then as ever a broad one.
Medical science was not always freed from tran-
scendentalism and dream books furnished contribu-
tions to therapeutics. Kosher food and philoso-
phy were not deemed incompatible, and the good
people of those days lived their lives without much
regard for the opinion of their Christian neighbors,
upon whom they looked with some justice as a
race of oppressors among whom there occasionally
appeared a generous king or duke, who lightened
a little the yoke of the ever-enslaved Jew.
[279]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[280]
Title page of
*""
Honor of God
Usque, Fcrrara, 1556
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[282]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
The influence of the double Hfe led by the
Marranos, may be seen in a striking peculiarity of
this edition of the Pentateuch. It is known as the
Ferrara Bible and was published in one edition but
in two differing forms, with different title pages
and epigraphs and some variations in the text,
the one apparently intended for Jewish and the
other for Christian readers. The volumes in-
tended for Christians were dedicated to the Duke
by Duarte Pinel the Portuguese,
of Ferrara, printed
and published by Geronimo de Vargas the Spaniard
those intended for Jews were dedicated to the
illustrious Donna Gracia Mendesia Nasi and the
printer becomes Abraham Usque the Portuguese,
the publisher,Yomtob the son of Levi Athias the
Spaniard.* This Donna Gracia is the famous
kinswoman of Don Joseph Nasi, Duke of Naxos,
and a member of that illustrious family whose
picturesque career may be followed in Portugal
Italy and the Orient. It was the eternal wan-
dering of the landless nation pursued by the
fury of an ever-watchful Church, that made
the lives of the Jews so rich in experience so
replete with incident so affecting in its pathos
and sorrow.
Abraham's kinsman Samuel ibn Usque, ex-
pressed their sorrow in a book entitled "Consola-
tion for the Tribulations of Israel"! which was
printed at the press of Abraham in the same year as
*Kayserling "Sephardim" 138; Graetz 9 -.333.
[283]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[284]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
tire people of Israel, the others offering him con-
solation.
When this book left the press of Abraham Usque
on September 27 1553 the decree of confiscation
of Hebrew books had already gone forth and the
Talmud had already been burned in Rome. From
all over Italy went up prayers and cries, and many
[2851
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[286]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
ions of the Inquisition. Of the edition of the
Pentateuch of 1555 printed by Abraham Usque
only a few copies survive. One might have sup-
posed that the book upon which the gospels of
Christ were founded would have been respected
by his worshippers, but ancient Inquisitors like
modern "higher anti-Semites" destroyed the Old
Testament while professing to uphold the New.
The Inquisition knew everything, read everything
stretched forth its hand to the confines of Chris-
tendom. When in 1556 Abraham Usque pub-
lished a poem by Jacob ben Elia di Fano, contain-
ing satirical verses against women, it was soon
brought to the attention of Cardinal Michele
Ghislieri, who in a letter to the Duke of Ferrara
ordered the punishment of the author and the
printer and the burning of all copies of the book
by the Vicar of the Archbishop of Ferrara.* For-
tunately for Abraham Usque he had by that time
given up his press, and we cannot tell whether the
order of the Vatican was obeyed. The temper of
the duke would probably have saved the printer
from, too great punishment, for in those days the
house of Este took orders from no one and more
than once defied the Pope himself.
Duke Ercole's fame as an independent sovereign
went far and wide and when about ten years be-
fore these events (1543) Rabbi Isaac Gunzburg, of
the distinguished Suabian family of that name,
conceived the plan of publishing a Talmud, he
*J. Q. R. 10:447.
[287]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[2881
Title page of the Book of tLe Grievous Vision
" The Partners," Sabbioneta, 1552
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[290]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
printers were doing their best to secure the con-
demnation of all Hebrew books by Papal decree,
the publication of any book reflecting even re-
motely upon the doctrines and dogmas of Chris-
tianity was fraught with unusual danger. Al-
though the presses at Sabbioneta pubHshed many
books never before published in which certain as-
pects of Christianity were treated with consider-
able freedom, the decree of Pope Paul III. in 1553
passed over this city without apparent effect. It
is certainly a tribute to the liberality and culture
[291]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[292]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
merits in some of their publications, which finally-
[293]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[294]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
in advertising the fact that they pubHshed books
"with letters of Sabbioneta,"* indicate the es-
teem in which these pubHcations of the press were
held, and the value of its name and good will.
Its title pages were used by Di Gara in Venice and
[295]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
t Emek (ed. Wiener) p. 90; (ed. Letteris) p. 112; Nepi & Ghirondi
p. 164.
[296]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
prefaces to many of the books published at his
press, and made himself so invaluable that with
his death in 1562 the press of Riva came to a stand-
still.* He seems also to have published Hebrew
books and we know one of them, on the Council
of Trent, written by Vincenzo Zannelli and dedi-
cated to Cardinal Madrucci.f
The most interesting personage connected with
this press was the distinguished prince of the
church whose coat of arms adorns many of the
title pages of its books. Cardinal Madrucci was
born of the noble Tyrolean family of Madruz, and
after becoming Bishop of Trent and Prince Bishop
of Brescia was created cardinal in 1542 by Pope
Paul HI. The seat of his diocese was the city of
Trent lying about twenty miles northeast of Riva,
which had contained a flourishing Jewish com-
munity for upwards of one hundred years until
in 1475 the horrible charge of ritual murder was
brought against it by the monk Bernadino da
Feltre, and after an orgy of robbery and massacre
in which the insulted Christian sentiment of the
community expressed itself, the Jews of Trent
were forever exiled from the city. How shall we
account for the fact that so many eminent Catholic
churchmen were deeply interested in the spread
* See Carmoly "Riva" passim.
t Full title as follows:
"De Concilio Tridentino et omnibus patribus in eo congregatis
ad illustrissimum & reverendiss. principem & cardinalem Ludovicum
Madrutium Vincentii Zannelli-Thausignani Archipresbyteri Sylva.
RipaeTridentini: Apud Jacobum Marcoriae, 1563." Z. H. B. 10 : 94.
[297]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[298]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
Although Cardinal Madrucci was not the fore-
runner of the Messiah he was a scholar and a
gentleman. He was free from the prejudices of
his more churchly brethren and belonged to that
class of men who cultivated a philosophy of life
[299]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[300]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
at the age of sixty-six.* Although this prince of
the Church had pubHcly sanctioned the pubHca-
tion of Hebrew books at Riva, the Inquisition
which had suspected him of heresy naturally de-
clined to recognize his imprimatur. There lies
before me a copy of the "Toaliot" of Rabbi Levi
ben Gerson, bearing the cardinal's name on the
title page; here and there through its pages may
[301]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[302]
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
1556 Masaot of Benjamin of Tudela
Likute Shikha
Issur Vehetter
Amarot Tehorot*
1557 Hibbur Yafe Mehayeshuah
Ben Hamelekh Vehanazir
Hashagot of Moses Alaskar
1558 Maarekhet Haelohut
Mea Berakhot.f
Joseph Ha-Cohen
1552 Hazut Kashah
1553 Moreh Nebukhim
Talmud BabU Kiddushin
Arba Turim ,
[303]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
1553-1555
FERRARA AND RIVA DI TRENTO
1559 Iggeret Hamussar le Aristoteles
Kizzure Ibn Roshd
Kol Malakot Higayon
1560 Toaliyot of Levi b. Gerson
Massa Ge Hizayon
Commentary on Megillot by Levi b. Gerson
Dikduke Rashi
Sefer Ibronot
Milhamot Hashem
1561 Haggadah shel Pesah
Arba Turim
Pentateuch (two editions)
Shaare Orah
Shaare Zedek
Masseket Derek Erez upirke Ben Azai
1562 Biurim of Isserlein
Goren Nakon
Meir lyyob (?)
[305]
CHAPTER XIII.
[306]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
Jewish learning the famous rabbinical academy of
—
Joseph Ottolenghi* and through the growth of
her book-trade, took the place of Venice as the
chief distributing centre for Hebrew books to all
the world.
From the windows of the municipal palace of
Cremona one may see the great cathedral and its
bell tower, beyond which lay the ancient Jewish
quarter the Ghetto for several centuries the inno-
cent cause of much turmoil and alarm. For many
years the Jews had lived in happy obscurity in
their Via Giudecca, ignored by the mitred prelates
and black robed friars who passed and repassed in
endless processions to the great cathedral. Oc-
casional riots instigated by rogues intent on
plunder or monks zealous in saving souls were
promptly suppressed by the strong hand of the
civil authorities, and until the middle of the six-
teenth century the Jews of this city had compara-
tively little to complain of.
The city of Cremona at that time lay under
the jurisdiction of the Senate of Milan and the
entire ancient Duchy of Milan was an appanage
of the Spanish crown, ruled by a royal governor
the appointee of Philip II, that king whose cruel
and bloodthirsty religious fanaticism exceeded that
of any European monarch. In the Senate of
Milan however and even among the Episcopal
Vicars a milder religious sentiment prevailed, and
it may very well be that herein was manifest the
[307
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[308]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
tomake the investigation, and in obedience to his
summons Vicenzo Conti and Vittorio EUano
awaited his pleasure in the municipal palace. No
two men in Cremona could better answer the
question about to be propounded to them: "Is
the Talmud of the Jews being printed at Cremona?"
for the one was the master of the Hebrew press
established in 1556 at Cremona * and the other a
learned Jewish apostate in his employ who was
also reviser of Hebrew books for the Inquisition.
Vittorio Eliano's connection with the press of Conti
no doubt induced him to give his employer the
benefit of every reasonable doubt, and it was
probably this laxity in the interpretation of the
rules of the Inquisition that provoked the wrath
of the Inquisitor General. Conti and Vittorio
quickly satisfied the podesta that the Talmud was
not being printed at Cremona, and that the copies
in use among
the Jews of that city were principally
those of the Venice edition from the press of the
late Daniel Romberg, which had until now escaped
the general confiscation. Acting upon the report
[309;
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[3101
to'jT q^^
[313]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
*H. B. 1 :131.
tH. B. 1 :131.
[314]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
brutal and ignorant Spanish soldiers was left the
task of assisting in the determination whether or
not Hebrew books were among the classes forbid-
den by the Index. Under the zealous leadership
of Sixtus of Siena the soldiers tore the books from
the houses of their owners; they broke into the
shop of Conti and took all of his books, including
[315]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[316]
WMi nDJp i5ri»:fii yhy
Printers mark or Vicenzo Conti
CREMONA AND MANTUA
who continued printing for many years but never
entered the field of Hebrew typography, unless the
Responsa of Nissim of Gerona published in 1586
issued from their press.* An attempt was made
by another Cremonese, Cristoforo Draconin to
print Hebrew books, but after the publication of
a single book with the aid of the Jewish printer
Solomon ben Jacob Bueno f he desisted.^
* Fumagalli ibid,
t Yosef Lekah 1567.
t For Draconin see
Fumagalli p. 107.
If
De Rossi '.'Ann. ebr. tip. di Cremona."
[319]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
1558
t vSj> nan im omatt Vn S'an \Voh muoi npn* nwyV'h inn tto8»i vvik Vwite
WIS onaVoi ona»oiBW3iw>"on»flo» msvh yaiuh 6»mtDi cnaun o'san •ww
«w BM pa Kirva Vjn p'jy pwoaimva ppvmSi'n rK n»T^
: psnbaonitfS laivivnTsaiwynajc
B»w'n3i!»ivatt33'»nra]3n|aw3P3tyo''OT'n3i5333»>naKntt/ RTW*^
WwJ
»wo jno o'nwi n»y mvo inti o?n» 'jiVVpi wan trtioi iiao jn iSw
ioai'»nan nsana fisst »hy nSSpn'iran nw jwbyi ym ma -v)»h vsm S^pen wo '
T3«e rt« bVp» -mi »'K ©v »3 3'roi rov no tcsi vas VVpoi 3'roi rov riD;icKi vsjc
vikV rtinh 13 van SSp idki vas 'Sr |»>3a nr'o ini^ D"n3 kU »V [tjc rw
niS vw wi
«{"iio:il3>aTii»wt«niaw»''Bani:»i'K8iv3Mtp3n3it}3n«'Dn3nn»T,Tnjvo
rpifai Va!«B msa inwi ' wnaa nht vtjn nrio »S» iBipB3 3*1* kVi id^b3 toj;* kV
:w;vo3 nsao v>n3 'n3aB''aan tatf 1 ' k»»ibi o'saai Vpbi ^sSo fai j^tbi yoio
-soyy V3D3 »srinB 'Bvy V3tt;3 omStt^'cK* kV oipaS r3t«;n3i3 rhviio nn lyo rtia
nVvflcnjnottfW'oiKn'nwapioa ' MKV3»3irt^p'BiKKt,»Byy Va»3»inBft
, "jWi ta»B ipin 3V iira'Bili * waw a ms3 'ann na wtj ic« "p t(b ksk 'bk -p ibk*
|fvnn3 p33 it»3 i]w63'fflK W1 V3K w
n33Bn>B3n 13IOT : Mn of^wnV wiar'o*
• oipan 'jaOKw p33a wv {iw»b3 p33Dfnnttv»B »h» pasa uv }n»'n3p93BiWf
*i»K rVy 'ais mnsm? ocien vipjibs ibk wi v3K;!» waai oypn n33a,i (3n ••wvk
^'Ki!«^ : wn»ini33Vo»i»isKi3t«n'o»3'Tn3finwn«/jnnyijmi»»T»K'»Vfiw
ijm {.13 nnj'V otk in» ti3»3V nann nan hii»h» vrnanravii v
•ohsirm 13^3 onain
ntn d^ra jiri'fl bt» Vaw psi nap* jiAnniipsi np^ tfcm can scm* ' tvm hy m»
Aiaw'Wa l»a» pa*'*' |J»^ T» wi i»att
'^
w
nsa'ow kp pton
»3»AiaBfiSW31^3B»»IJ»Sl"JMC
0^ A'ts**? ™
jaiKi o>j;3ttni D*aS(c nvan nxf
noaa iMt»'p dVv rKn3V
'"|Drm
{CK :ftt»T»ri^'niirWWKO»Dj'n^3BlWpJ3Wl
[322]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
vogue throughout Italy and
cal interference then in
—
the world a system under which the farmer the
laborer the petty mechanic and the Jew suffered
equally, a system that was only beginning to
recognize the merchant and that had since time
immemorial enthroned the soldier and pampered
the priest.
In the fifth decade of the fifteenth century, as
the presses of Venice came to rest, a number of
active presses sprang up in Lombardy. In Mantua
the enterprising initiative of two descendants of
Paduan Jews, Joseph ben Jacob Shalit and Meir
ben Ephraim the Scribe again set the Hebrew
presses in motion. The first of these, Joseph ben
Jacob whose surname Ashkenazi indicates his
descent from Jews, who had settled in
German
Padua to escape persecution, was not only a crafts-
man but a scholar and linguist, and entered the
republic of letters in 1550 with an ItaHan trans-
lation of a Hebrew dissertation written by Rabbi
Moses ben Abraham of Provence, on the mathe-
matical problem of two lines constantly approach-
ing each other but never meeting.* After the
appearance in 1550 of his first Hebrew book the
Passover Haggadah,t Joseph Shalit removed to
* Zunz Z. G. 2S1. He was one of the six judges and leaders of the
German Jewish community at Mantua. Zunz. Z. G. 252. He wrote
introduction toAbrabanel's commentary on Deuteronomy, ISSl,
Isaac Arama's "Hazut Kaisha'' 1552 published at Sabbioneta and dedi-
cated to Aaron Habib of Pesaro. Also introduction to Tikkun Middot
Hanefesh and Goren Nakon published at Riva 1562.
t Not at Venice as Zunz Z. G. 251 has it, but at
Mantua
Wiener " Oster Haggadah" No. 9.
[323
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[324]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
nal Archbishop Ercole Gonzaga for there had
been no press of any kind in Mantua for twenty
years. At his death in 1558 he was succeeded by
his son Giacomo who in 1576 was followed by his
son Tommaso.* The rival house of Fillipono,
estabHshed by Francesco Fillipono who was suc-
ceeded by his sons Filotarsi and Calidono Filli-
pono,t does not seem to have seriously contested
for supremacy with the RufiEnelli.
Jacob ben Naftali Cohen of Gazolo after having
served at the press of Foa in Sabbioneta as one of
"the partners" came to Mantua in 1556 and during
the following eight years established a splendid
record for good typographical work.J His first
work appears to have been a new edition of Elijah
Levita's grammatical work the "Bahur" which he
printed at the press of Venturin Rufifinello for
Meir b. Ephraim the Scribe. The relations thus
established between Jacob and Meir continued
until 1563 when Jacob either died or retired or
removed from Mantua.T[ Of all the books printed
at Mantua the most important is the Zohar prep-
arations for which were made as early as 1556.
The Zohar, "the Shining", seems to have been
named upon the principle by which in polite and
*Fumagalli202.
t Filotarsi and Calidono were probably the sons of Francesco and
the same as the printers of the Haggadot of 1568 known as "the sons
of Fillipono."
J J- E. 7 : 40.
[325]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[326]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
monwealth. It had now become a mad dream of
miracle-workers who considered themselves fore-
runners of a miraculous redeemer. The trinitarian
elements in this jumble of mysticism, philosophy
and theology attracted many of the leading men
of the Church who, deceived by the apparent
antiquity of the Zohar, looked with favor on what
seemed to them to be confirmation of the funda-
mental dogmas of Catholicism.* After three
years of work the Zohar appeared in 1559 in three
quarto volumes. f While it was in press Vicenzo
Conti of Cremona, anticipating the printers of
Mantua } issued another edition which through
judicious advertising and the patronage of Vittorio
Eliano and of the Inquisitor General, threatened
to wreck the newly established press at Mantua. T[
The obvious superiority of the Mantua edition,
Buxtorf to the contrary notwithstanding,** gained
for it success in the open book market, and defeated
Conti's attempt to overreach his rivals.
Although the activity of the press at Mantua
was temporarily stimulated by the cessation of the
press at Ferrara in 1558 and at Sabbioneta in 1560
and by the acquisition of the types of the latter,
it soon succumbed at the renewed competition of
[327]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[328]
Xitle page of Generations of Isaac
Meir of Padua and Jacob of Gazolo, Mantua 1558
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[330]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
subjects.* The persecuting mania once aroused
grew stronger with every victim and it was the
fate of the printer Meir in his extreme old age to
feel the heavy hand of persecution. A short entry
in his diary records that without notice or trial
he was suddenly arrested and imprisoned imme-
diately after the Jewish New Year, kept in soHtary
confinement and released for want of evidence
against him a few days after the Day of Atone-
ment. The cruel injustice of the whole proceeding
against the helpless and innocent old man broke
down his health, and he died after a lingering
illness.
t Zunz. Z. G. 249.
tZ. H. B. 9 152. :
[331]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
1559
CREMONA AND MANTUA
ti
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[334]
JJJ? P!P7 OlOP llO 0|>'JJ3»fjJ l-JPD ?71P:' 7;3j> •)p33 0n37;'6
rn©3?)'<!>'^'pTJ'pi533 /"'"i^wipninpp'TropipnffS
PP''3'
J5)pDl r)3'P3 3W 7Pf> i33 ?:?) :mr/??pp5pDif)'ci7)i3)?f)3>)?P')
;p)t3)?i)3!7riD)P)y"f'> iwispwiiDsiPfyihiwipri)
[336]
CREMONA AND MANTUA
to revive and the very year of the signing of the
Treaty of Peace marks the revival of the Mantuan
Hebrew press under the direction of Joshua the
son of Judah Samuel of Perugia who had been as-
sociated with his father at the press which ended
in 1626, and whose sons in turn carried on the
work intermittently until the seventh decade of
the century,* printing a few books of devotion
and prayer but nothing of any importance.!
*1648
CHAPTER XIV.
[338]
5^*5
*;?V''^'vl5S
L7.-.fe?^^
[341]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[342]
RESUMPTION OF PRESS AT VENICE
first printed Hebrew in1564 at the order of Di
Gara and in the followingtwo years produced on
his own account several Hebrew books of good
quality.*
In 1593-96 Matteo Zanetti associated with Com-
ino Presignof published a few books and Matteo's
heirs continued the pressunder the superintendence
of Daniel Zanetti who at the same time was printing
in his own house in the Calle de Dogan. Finally
in 1606 Zanetto or Zuan Zanetti took charge and
printed Hebrew until 1608 after which no Hebrew
books appear at this press.
[344]
Title page of R.espoiisa
Zanetti, Venice, 1602
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[346]
±1^?^ «->,-
'
top'?iJ uno 1C0J3) .
«
1'i^ ?ti ,-.3
',•.-3
J...
';''»i^
[349]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* This form of the name seems more correct than Grypho as Stein-
schneider gives it.
t Fumagalli 492.
J Turim
Shulhan Arukh
Sforno's commentary on Pentateuch
Abodat Hakodesh
Genesis Rabba
Ersch & Grub?r 59.
^ "Virtute duce, comite fortuna."
"Poco val la vertu senza fortuna."
"Beli hashpiat tob hamazalot, me'at mo'ilot hamuskilot."
[350]
RESUMPTION OF PRESS AT VENICE
synonymous with inimitable excellence and Daniel
Bomberg, following in his footsteps, had produced
models of typographical perfection, Venice had
maintained her hegemony among the book pro-
ducing cities of the world and had preserved the
traditions of these masters. The types of Bom-*
berg or imitations of them found their way into
the printing houses of Northern Europe, but most
of his fonts eventually came into the possession of
Giovanni di Gara who proud of his assumed title
as "heir of Bomberg," * emulated his predecessor
and produced a great number of books, many of
them worthy to take their place with the best
productions of Bomberg. The activity of Daniel
Bomberg and Giovanni Gara practically spans
di
the entire sixteenth century, and the combined
output of their presses an enduring monument
is
[351]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Maharil 1590.
t Tolaat Yaakob 1581.
t Zebah Pesah 1592.
If Yesha Elohim & Marpe lenefesh 1595.
** Arugat Habosem and Hamekah vehametnkar 1602.
tt Nefuzot Yehudah 1589.
tJNefuzot Yehudah 1589; Torat Haadam 1595; Mahzor 1600.
litKol Bokhim 1591.
[352]
yn\ jTfc^ nan 'w^
•^^^o^ 'n*?Kn DSt:?n \mn
ir\)?iD nnaij;
3
—1»
n n
ij
a
[354]
RESUMPTION OF PRESS AT VENICE
how the taskmasters drive in the press-room crying
'hurry up your work and finish the quota of the
turn out a certain num-
press,' for it is the rule to
ber every day and they do not give the correctors
any rest. As to this book there is to be added
that the greater part of it was printed by Christians
1355]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[356]
Title page of " HealtL to tLe Soul
Di Gara, Venice, 1584
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[358]
RESUMPTION OF PRESS AT VENICE
had directed the translation of the entire work
into Latin, inasmuch as most of the members of
the Congregation did not understand Hebrew.
This enormous difficulty was removed, however,
by the who authorized
brief of the Pope, the re-
vision of theTalmud by those members of the
Congregation who understood Hebrew. A further
indication of the change of sentiment on the part of
the ecclesiastical authorities was the invitation ex-
tended by the Cardinals in charge of the revision
to seven representatives of the Jews of Italy to
meet them to decide upon rules to govern the
censorship. This meeting was in fact held, the
rules agreed upon and a committee appointed by
the Cardinals for the purpose of undertaking the
revision, which had as its final object the re-
publication of the Talmud. But within two weeks
after the appointment of the revisers Pope Sixtus
V died, his successor Pope Urban VII died within
a month after his election, and with the accession
of Pope Gregory XIV all hope for the re-publication
of the Talmud with the consent of the Pope was
abandoned.
Sixtus V was no fanatical zealot like some of
his predecessors, but rather a wily diplomat who
had secured his election by feigning insignificance
and mildness and showed extraordinary powers as
a statesman and ruler after he had attained the
summit of his ambition. In him was again ex-
emplified the fact often illustrated in the history
of the Papacy, that the Jews had much less to fear
[359]^
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[360]
SIXT0V,P0NT*MAX
ATQVE BEATISSIMO.
/EL 1 C I S S I M
V S ille dies,(Beatifri me,atq;San
aifTimepontifex) orbi cerarum iUuxic,in:quo
ce Deus ad pontificatus culmen eucxic.
ialuurc
vniiierfis,& optabilem principatum, prsclaro
initio aufpicatus cs . Nulla vnquam niortalipini
mcmoriainPont. Maximo cligendo concor-i
dia maior, nulla prarclarior; nulla faliibrior cle^lio. ingeiiti profe-
floftudiOjmaxiinoaflFedu.tuijhuius ad principatum affumptionis
gloria,ab omnibus exceptaconllantiflime eft quinimmo hac o.c-
;
[364]
133
.^:
:i30
I($,
Con licsotia de
fW^t ¥^i^'-^ k-'
^
Title page of Cordovero s " S'weet Lignt
D; Gara, Venice, 1587
RESUMPTION OF PRESS AT VENICE
upon the resumption of Hebrew printing in 1563
he printed until his death in 1575.*
Bragadini was fortunate in having as his fore-
man so able and skilled a printer as Meir ben
Jacob Parenzo. His forefathers had come from
the Dalmatian coast and settled in the capital f
and some time before the year 1545 Meir Parenzo
learned his craft in the shop of the prince of printers
Daniel Bomberg, where he was associated with
Cornelio Adelkind.
Meir's father was also a member of the craft
and his death in 1546 is piously commemorated by
his son in these words published in the colophon
of a Yalkut issued in that year, "And now while I
was in the midst of this work, alas the light of my
eyes and the crown of my head was taken away,
the pious one who was sought in the Court of
Heaven, behold it was my father my master the
distinguished Rabbi Jacob ibn Parenzo may his
memory be a blessing. These are the words of
1553 Mesharim
Responsa of Meir of Padua
Arukh
Mayan Gannim
Iggeret Derekh Adonai
15 54 Megillat Setarira
* Some of his books were:
1563 Tur Orah Hayyim
1564 Meir Natib
1565 Akedat Yizhak
1574-75 Mishne Torah
and that name should
t Manzoni thought he was a Frenchman
his
[367]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[368]
tt^
oiDipn
^
his fount. Punches lasted a long time. Jenson employed his one set
during his eleven years of copious work, and they were worth be-
queathing to his compeer Ugelleymer in 1480. And the punches for
the type from which Aldus printed Bembo's Aetna, in 149S, lasted
sixty years from that date. Brown, "Venet. Print. Press " page 18.
Guillaume cut type for Giustiniani as well as Parenzo. M. Omont,
in his monograph on the types of Guillaume Le Be, shows that Le Be,
who was a pupil of Robert Etienne, came to Venice in 1S4S, and there
cut Hebrew type for Marc' Antonio Giustinian, a Venetian noble who
owned a Hebrew press at the Rialto, in the Calle delli Cinque alia
Justizia Vecchia. Le Be talks of this type as la premiere de mes
ouvrages, aage lors de 20 ans et huict moys. Le Be stayed in Venice
till the year ISSO, when he went to Rome
for the jubilee of Pope Julius
HL During Venice he cut two kinds of Hebrew
his five years sojourn in
type for Giustinian and six kinds of Hebrew type for Mazo da Parenza.
The fourth and fifth of Le Be's Hebrew types were cut coubz I'adveu
de magnifique bout d'une ruelle regardant sur le quay de la Madona
de rOrto. The sixth character was cut aussy en acier, faicte a Venize
pour le dit May de Parensa, en une chambre que je tenoye a loyage
a un ducat par moys, ayant veue sur le Camp de St. Lio, a coste de
I'eglise. Le Be was in the habit of cutting his own name and that of
Venice on the punches which he made there. His seventh Hebrew
type was cast while he was at Rome for the papal jubilee, and his
eighth was cut before the preceding character. But while Le Be was
absent from Venice celui a qui je laissay mesdits poinsons en garde on
a fait des frappa et tout mange, ayant vendue et poinsons et matrices
a un AUemant, ainsy que de Dansi m'ont mande. While in Venice Le
Be made drawings and designs for various characters, which he pre-
served, and used in Paris as patterns for his fifteenth Hebrew type.
The name of Mazo da Parenza does not occur in the copyrights; the
name of Marc' Antonio Giustinian is recorded in Cicogna's list of
Venetian printers. Brown, "Venet. Print. Press," pp. 105-106.
[3701
RESUMPTION OF PRESS AT VENICE
le is unknown and
Be, but the reason for the suit
we can only guess at its Another engraver
cause.
Jacob of Mantua seems to have cut type for Meir
Parenzo while he was in the employ of Giustiniani.*
Meir Parenzo, somewhat more than his con-
temporaries, made a pathetic bid for immortality
by elaborately spreading his name on title page,
introduction and colophon. But the trumpet of
fame sounds no very loud note, and even the great
brazen instruments that herald the deeds of the
chosen ones sound but a faint echo when heard
through the long corridors of the centuries. Meir
Parenzo, notwithstanding his hope for immortality,
is completely forgotten except by a small circle of
[371
CHAPTER XV.
THE
was
important presses of Venice
last of the
by Giovanni Ven-
established in 1631
dramin and conducted in his name until 1640,
after which it was known as the Commissaria
Vendramina and the Stamperia Vendramina and
after its union with the Bragadini press, it con-
tinued Until well into the eighteenth century.
The old flourishing press of the Di Gara and the less
important one of Zanetti had come to a standstill in
1608-1609, unable to compete with the more
powerful house of Bragadini, and oppressed by the
persecuting mania that had finally attacked the
presses of Venice, as well as all the rest of Italy.
Of all of these noted presses there remained only
the inconspicuous press at Leghorn, which although
established in 1650 did not really flourish until
1740.
[i372]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
The House of Bragadini continued to enjoy a
monopoly of Hebrew printing in Venice under
Giovanni son of Alvise Bragadini who succeeded
his father about 1579 and who in turn in 1614
passed it on to his sons Pietro and Lorenzo.
Giovanni's chief printer was Asher Parenzo, the
brother of Meir Parenzo who had held a similar
position at the press of his father.* After his
[373]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
non fosse sottoposta ad incorrervi errori e ben che dove piu dove meno,
pochissime pero sono quelle opere di essa, che ne escano nette a fatto.
[374]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
Following Cajun came Giovanni Caleoni as the
chief printer at this press *
some of the books
being printed in his house, Antonio Calleoni,t and
Lorenzo Pradotto.J From 1667 to the end of the
century, the press seems to have been known as
the Stamparia Bragadina and not connected spe-
cially with names of any of that family and during
this time, among
its printers, were Cristofolo
Ambrosini.Tf Giovanni Doriguzzi,** and Domenico
Bona.tt
[375]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[377]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
1704
^«*^^1,<
p^)n ^ -T-nt-y^
ji™ PP y -Tpf-
Ip.
p j^ s •as?
r
Mr kpcSp -
f r
n tf'V^J-iP' '-V St J5p i n& (r;p3
rP c iD r^ o n -vi -q-h|
rp i i
^
p rP^w rapj'P7'^>» ot i or o-p 3ictnpr^l^irn
WT' K'5 3ir3P -j:^ L-t asii" i*^ p
-"1D*P1 3 fs™*=!
r>ri n>i' T3°7 p'to i^f" Pifc 'W!r«c )i Jww>t-f> uy>8> c^Rni
[382]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
great expense. Finally by the mercy of God, the
Criminal Court acquitted them on Tammuz the
28th 1635."* Such attacks upon printers were
quite common. The officers of the Inquisition
without notice to their victims seized them put
them away into dark prisons, perhaps the famous
dungeons of the ducal castle to which not a ray
[383]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[384]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
the book and its freedom from passages that might
Lion"—
"The undersigned, the most excellent Signori,
[385]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[387]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[388]
^ ^ ^2 ^fcsti- ^fciia? i^fcs*?; (!i*j; cfce^ «yi* Q^
>^etn©;?min' Vttim
"5"»? IP3 mr' inc>
.1?
•oy»
'nj73 ip-irj iito 7j5j3 Tioti Jb )pj|ftp
: onrc?i ot;?
C7t?l5M>
Pfi-i>
hi
t Fumagalli 515.
[390]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
be torn from their parents for baptism and Chris-
tian education, and then that we should be de-
prived of our synagogues, he ordered that all our
books should be seized. So I brought all my
books into the city of Porto (Oporto) in obedience
to the royal decree; but yet I took my life in my
hands by carrying with me to Lisbon the 'Com-
mentary on the Law' which I had composed, as
well as a commentary to the treatise 'Ethics of
the Fathers' and one to the 'Five Scrolls.'
"But when I reached Lisbon all the Jews came
to me and told me that it had been proclaimed to
the community that every Jew who might be
found with a book or with phylacteries in his
possession would be put to death. So straightway
before I entered the quarter outside the city I
took these books in my hand; two brothers went
with me and dug a grave among the roots of a
blossoming olive tree; there we buried them.
And although a tree flourishing with lovely fruit
stood there yet because of the Law which was
within it did I call it 'Tree of Sorrow' for I had ;
[392]
si ;S» T^^'"' I'l""' '"P"" l*""^ 1^'' I'*^ tp" iK
2?^ ^-'^
[394]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
ness," * "a worm, not a man," f "the little one
and poorest among the poor," J"a tail of the lions,"^
"the lowly one who has no knowledge of books but
gropes among them like a blind man."** The
books themselves bear traces of the degeneration
of the taste of the publisher and readers. To
what other cause can be ascribed their uncritical
blindness than to the general depression of spirit
and wretchedness of life that accompanied and
followed the wars pestilence and religious oppres-
sion under which the Jew suffered much more than
any other element of the people.
The struggle for mere existence absorbed all
[395]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[396]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
press of his own son of
as late as 1795.* Gad
Samuel Foa preserved the tradition of the family
by publishing school books printed at both Ven-
dramin and Bragadini presses,! published in 1778
Rashi's commentary on portions of the Bible. In
1785 he had established a press of his own at Pisa
known as the Stamperia Fua or Foa. J He was
followed at Pisa by members of the Molcho family,
Samuel & Joseph who printed several books aided
by Jacob Tobiana and Jacob Nunez Vais.^ At
Mantua the d'ltalia family resumed printing about
the end of the second decade of the Eighteenth
century assisted by Benjamin Polacco of Venice.**
* Maamadot veshir hayihud.
t See Hemed Elohim 1720.
JMeil Zedaka, Bigda Kodesh. Partial list of Jewish printers,
compositors and correctors at Bragadini press:
1700 Simha Calimani
Zalkaman b. Yekutiel Richetti
1700-46 Meir di Zara
1707 Moses Hai b. Joseph Venturin
1712-19 Solomon b. David Altaras
1712-60 Menahem b. Aaron Ashkenazi Polacco
Benjamin b. Aaron Ashkenazi Polacco
1720 Hananiah Marun
David b. Rafael Hayim Bueno
1720-78 Gad b. Samuel Foa
1720-60 Mordecai b. Solomon Civita
1741 Isaac Foa
1760 Menahem b. Isaac Polacco
1760-2 Isaac b. Gad Foa
179S Gad b. Isaac Foa
^ 1810 Amer naki
Mahzor (Tunis rite)
[397]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[398]
n3;r3 -rysy
MDHKTna
o U
B
I d^j^LcL c uit J
1650 Asharot
16S6 Ez Hayim
Responsa of David Simra
Dabar beitto
Tur Pitda
Toldot Adam
1658 Keneset Hagedolah
1660 Yalkut Shimeoni
t 1740 Kinat Soferim
Seder Tikkun Shobebim
Kontres Hok leyisrael
1742 Hose Zion
1743 Seder Hamizmorim
Seder Arba Taaniyot
1745 Shiba Enayim
Correctors and printers:
Isaac b. Moses di Paz
David Hayim b. Samuel Bazi Cohen
Moses b. Rafael Meldola
David b. Solomon Hassan
Zebi b. Joseph Hacohen of Hamburg
[400]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
supply Cabbalistic books and liturgical works for
the African, Asiatic as well as Italian Jews. At
the same time another press was established by
Eliezer Saadon which seems to have lasted for
about fiftyyears during a portion of which he had
as partner Abraham Isaac Castello.* Among
other printers were Abraham Meldola,t Moses
Athias,J Carlo Giorgi,T[ Giovanni Vincenzo Fal-
* 1743 LeDavid Emet
1780 Moses Zacut
Letters of
1787 Veshob Hakohen
1788 Derekh Yeshara
1796 Shomer Mussar
The following approbation appears in the letters of Moses Zacut:
Os Muy ill. S. S. Pamassim, Sed.
Ulst (Vist) a E^cania feita e establesida pelos S. S. Hahamim nella
firmados em ordem ab Deer, de S. S. do dia 3 JuUio 1780 do theor a qual.
Vist e consid. quanto.
Decretarao e Decretando aprovarao e aprovao ditta Escania tal
qual em ella e a Mesma permetterao imprimirse respectivamente nos
libros de que se tratta juntamente com esta approvacao de S. S. Muy
111. affirm. ^ tudo ec. orani ec.
[401]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
** H. B. 6 : 109.
[402]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
years,* andwas continued by his heirs.f Solomon
Belforte &
Co., J and Elijah Benamozegh Tf are
two important printers of our times, and with a
mere mention of two of the earlier printers Sanson
Gentilomo ** and Jacob b. Judah Ashkenazi &
Brother,ft we may close our list of printers of
Leghorn.
Here and there attempts were made under
varying conditions to print Hebrew with but little
*1824
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
* Fumagalli 129.
t Siddur Miberakhah.
{ Ersch &Gruber 45.
if Fumagalli 147.
** Privilegium to Seder TefiUot Firenze 475. Press of Francesco
Moiicke.
JOANNES GASTO
Dei Gratia
Magnus Dux Etruriae, etc.
Cum Franciscus Mo'cke Typographus Florentinus, necnon in
hac Civitate Librorum Negociator Nobis humiliter exposuerit se
Libros Hebraicos, & Rascenses summa cum impensa typis editurum,
& timens ne ab aliorum Typographorum arte aliquid detrimenti huic
novo Operi inferatur; inde preces Nobis porrexerit, ut lege ad decen-
nium valitura sub certae poenae sanctione interdiceremus, ne in uUis
nostrarum Ditionum Civitatibus, vel locis praedicti Libri tarn editi,
quam interum per dictum Mo'^cke edendi, imprimerentur; Nos animo
[404]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
In the 19th century Florence again saw a Hebrew
press established by Rabbi Hananya Elhanan
Cohen or as his Italian name runs Graziadio Vita
Anania Coen at which he the "pastor of the holy
flock" printed a special prayer on the rededication
of the synagogue in 1828.* In his native Reggio
where he established a Rabbinical school, he
printed school books on religion and ethics f at
the press of Davoho.
[405]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
[ 406 ]
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
vernacular. He has forgotten much, nearly all of
his ancient store of knowledge. For during that
period of his history following the Renaissance he
was beaten and starved and hunted like an animal
and his memory of the things once dear to him was
almost obliterated. His printers made books for
him without beauty or taste and he knew it not.
Their poor type and inartistic devices far removed
from the ancient sources of technical excellence did
not displease him. No one apparently knew
enough to cut new types or cut them well and no
one cared for fine paper, clear ink, correct texts or
even press work. The era of the cowled inquisitor
had followed the days of the rebirth of the white
naked gods of Greece and all Italy was for the
Christians one vast confessional, for the Jews a
chain of poverty stricken terrorized ghettos. The
period of mania has passed away, the incubus of
clericalism is disappearing. A united and free
Italy awaits its happy destiny. "She feels her
ancient breath, and the old blood move in her
immortal veins."
When Elijah Benamozegh, a preacher and rabbi,
estabhshed a printing press and began the publi-
cation of Hebrew books in the middle of the 19th
century, Steinschneider, that unenthusiastic tem-
perate critic and scholar said of him "It is well
known that the first printers like the first copyists
were scribes and scholars. Portuguese brethren
have always kept the praiseworthy combination of
arts or industry with letters and it is a pleasure
[407]
MAKERS OF HEBREW BOOKS IN ITALY
AsuLAi, H. J. D.
"Shem Hagedolim" Frankfurt-am-Main, 1847.
Backer, W.
"Die Hebraische Sprachwissenschaft vom 10 bis
zum 16. Jahrhundert." Trier, 1892.
Benjacob, I. A.
"Ozar Hasefarim" Wilna, 1880.
Berliner, A.
"Aus meiner Bibliothek." Frankfurt-am-Main,
1889.
"Censur and Confiscation Hebraischer Biicher im
Kirchenstaate." Berlin, 1891.
"Geschichte der Juden in Rom" Frankfurt-am-Main,
1893.
"Gutachten Ganganelli's-Clemens XlV-in Ange-
legenheit der Blutbeschuldigung der Juden." Berlin,
1888.
"Ueber den Einfluss des ersten hebraischen Buch-
drucks auf den Cultus und die Cultur der Juden."
Frankfurt-am-Main, 1896.
BlALLOBLOTSKY, C. H. F.
"The Chronicles of Rabbi Joseph ben Joshua ben
Meir the Sphardi." London, 1836.
Blau, L.
"Studien zum althebraischen Buchwesen." Buda-
pest, 1902.
Brown, H. F.
"Studies in the History of Venice." New York,
1907.
[409]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"The Venetian Printing Press." New York &
London, 1891.
Carmoly, E.
"Annalen der hebraischen Typographie von Riva di
Trento." Frankfurt-am-Main, 1868.
Chwolson, D.
"Reshith Maase Hadefus Beyisrael." Warsaw,
1897.
CONFORTE, D.
"Kore Ha-Dorot" (ed. Cassel) Berlin, 1846.
Depping, G. B.
"Die Juden in Mittelalter" Stuttgart, 1843.
De Rossi, G. B.
"Annales Hebraeo-Typographici Sec. XV." Parma,
1795.
"Annales Hebraeo-Typographici ab an. MDI ad
MDXL" Parma, 1790.
"Annali Ebreo-Typografici di Cremona." Parma,
1808.
"Annali Ebreo-Tipografici di Sabbioneta sotto
Vespasiano Gonzaga." Parma, 1780.
"De Typographia Hebraeo-Ferrariensi Commenta-
rius Historicus" Parma, 1780.
Freimann, a.
"Daniel Bomberg und seine hebraische Druckerei in
Venedig." Z. H. B. 10 32. :
[410:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Graetz, H.
"Geschichte der Juden." Leipzig.
GUICCIARDINI
"History of the Wars of Italy" London 1756.
GUBERNATIS, A. DE
"Materiaux pour servir a I'histoire des etudes
orientales en Italie." Paris, 1876.
GUDEMANN, M.
"Geschichte des Erziehungswesen und der Cultur der
Juden in Italien wahrend des Mittelalters" Vienna,
1884.
Heilprin, J.
"Seder Hadorot." Warsaw, 1897.
Hebraische Bibliographie (ed. Steinschneider)
Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Quarterly Review.
JosT, L M.
"Geschichte des Judenthums und seiner Sekten"
Leipzig, 1859.
Joseph, Ha Cohen,
"Emek Habaca" (ed. Letteris) Vienna, 1852.
Kristeller, p.
"Die Italienischen Buchdrucker und Verleger-
zeichen bis 1525." Strassburg, 1893.
LoEW, L.
"Graphische Requisiten und Erzeugnisse bei den
Juden." Leipzig, 1870.
Manzoni, G.
"Annali Tipografici dei Soncino." Bologna, 1883-
1886.
Michael, H. J.
"Or Ha-Hayim." Frankfurt-am-Main, 1891.
Nepi & Ghirondi
"Toledot gedole Yisrael" Trieste, 1853
[411
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Omont, H.
"Specimens de charact^res H6breux graves a Venise
Guillaume le B6 (1546-1574)" Paris,
et a Paris par
1887.
Perles, J.
"Beitrage zur Geschichte der Hebraischen und
Armaischen Studien," Miinchen, 1884.
Putnam, G. H.
"Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages."
New York and London, 1897.
Popper, W.
"The Censorship of Hebrew Books." New York,
1899.
Rabbinovicz, R. N.
"Maamar al hadfasat ha-Talmud." Munich, 1877.
Reusch, F. H.
"Die Indices Librorum Prohibitorum des sechzehn-
ten Jahrhunderts." Tubingen, 1886.
Revue des Etudes Juives.
Sacchi, F.
"I Tipografi Ebrei di Soncino." Cremona 1877.
Schwab, M.
"Les Incunables orientaux et les impressions orien-
talesau commencement du XVI siecle." Paris,
1883.
So AVE, M.
"Dei Soncino celebri tipografi italiani nei secoH XV,
XVI." Venezia, 1878.
Steinschneider, J.
"Einiges iiber R. Samuel Usque's Trost Israel's in
seinen Trubsalen." Berlin, 1893.
Steinschneider, M.
"Catalogus Librorum Hebraeorum in Bibliotheca
Bodleiana." Berlin, 1852-60.
[412
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Jiidische Typographic und Jiidischer Buchhandel."
in Ersch und Gruber's Encyclopedia vol. 28 pp.2 1-94.
VOGELSTEIN UND RiEGER.
"Geschichte der Juden in Rom." Berlin, 1896.
Wiener, S.
"Bibliographic der Oster-Haggadah. 1500-1900"
St. Petersburg, 1902.
Wolf, J. C.
"Bibliotheca Hebrea." Hamburg & Leipzig, 1715-
1733.
Zeitschrift fur Hebraische Bibliographie.
ZuNZ, L.
"Zur Geschichte und Literatur." Berlin, 1845.
[413]
INDEX
Abigedpr Levi of Padua 236, 240 Bishop of Aleria 245
Abrabanel, Isaac 278, 290 Fossombrone 94
Abiabam de Balmes, see Balmes. Blado, Antonio 249
Abraham Conat, see Conat. Boaz, Joshua 186, 253
Abcaham the Dyer. .38, 41, 48, 56,62. 277 Boehm, Samuel 346, 350
Abraham Farrisol 30 Bologna 42, 45, 49, 57, 230
Abraham ben Gartoa 22, 24, 28 Bomberg, Daniel 133, 149
Abraham b. Hayim, see Abraham the David 183
Dyer. Types of 351, 352
Abraham Jedidiah of Cologna 31 Bona, Domenico 375
Abraham b. Moses Cohen 234 Bonfoi, Solomon 58, 63
Abraham Zacuto, see Zacuto. Borgia, Caesar 90, 95
Adelkind, Baruh .180, 181 Botarel, Moses 185
Adelkind, Comelio. 176, 180, 182, 184
. Biagadini, Alvise 200, 255, 364
185, 200, 201, 206, 253, 291, 292 Giovanni 373
Adelfcmd, Daniel 180, 182, 253 House of 363
Adelkind family 149, 169 Pietro & Lorenzo 373, 374
Aldo Manuzio 98, 99, 102, 132, 177 Brescia 70, 71, 80
Almanzi, Giuseppe 341 Brucioli, Antonio 203
Altaras, Solomon 395 Francesco 199, 202
Alton, Hayyim 169 Bueno, David 395
Ambroeini, Cristofolo 375 Solomon 319
Ancona 117 Cajun, Giovanni 374
Antwerp 216 Caleoni, Giovanni 375
Approbation 66, 268, 384 Caiavita, Joseph 42, 57
Archevolti, Samuel 350, 355 Cardinal Barbadico 404
Arignano, Benjamin d* 250 Bellarmino 244
Arye b. Solomon of Monselice 234 Caraffa 264, 268, 271
Ashkenazi at Naples 63, 66 Egidio of Viterbo .. 126, 162, 167
Ashkenazi & Bro 403 184, 238
Astemio, Lorenzo 93 GanganeUi 266
Asti 392 Ghislieri 287, 308
Athias, Moses 401 Gonzaga 326, 328
Avignon 15 Grimani 197
Ayllon, Abraham 346 Madrucci 296, 297, 308
Azzoguidi, Baldassarre 48 Marcellus 264
Bachio, Fra Innocente 110 Pighmus 264, 270
Balmes, Abraham de 30, 169-172,178 Richelieu 386
Barco 82 Sacristo 271
Battista, Fra 113 Santa Balbina 93, 97
Belfort, Andre 32, 41 Ugo di San Vittorio 135
Belforte & Co 403 Turrecremata 15
Bellarmino, Roberto 244 Vigerio 104
Benamozegh, Elijah 403, 407 Casal Maggiore 60
Benedictines 18, 19 Castellazo, Moses del 176
Bianchi, Antonio 406 Castello, Abraham 401
Bible, Brescia 81 Cattaveri 385
Ferrata 283 Cavalli, Giorgio 346
Soncino 62 Censorship. .193, 233. 301, 316, 360, 378
[i4H]i
INDEX
Cesena 135 Francesco di Dino 63
Charles VIII of France 68, 81 FrancisI of France 118, 203
Chieri 392 Fust, John 13
Cohen, Graziadlo 405 Gabbai, Jedidiah 400
Columbus, Christopher 228 Gabriel b. Aaron of Strassburg 57
Conat, Abraham 30, 33 Gans, David 3. 12
Estellina 30, 33 Gatinio, Hayyim 291
Congregation de Propaganda Fide. . 244 Gedaliah ibn Yahya 3
CongresB of Ferrara 278, 285 Genoa 226
Conian, Israel 354 Gentilomo, Sanson 403
Conti, Vicenzo 291, 294, 309, 327 Georgi, Padre Francesco 86
Conzio, Abraham 392 Germany 21
Joseph 392 Gerson, Isaac 354, 356
Costa & Co 402, 408 Gesner Conrad 199
Cremona 306 Giolito Gabriele 205
Crivellari 388 Giolito, Giovanni 229, 342
Davolio 405 Giorgi, Carlo 401
Davin of Caderousse 15, 28 Giovanni Gracomo da Montecchio . . 238
De Rossi, G. B 23, 246, 288 Giustiniani, Agostino 226
Di Gara, Givoanni. .214, 295, 343, 346 Marc Antonio. .189, 199
351 201, 205, 252
Dimitzehen, Andrea 13 Gonzaga, Ferdinando 336
Donne, Francesco delle 390 Guglielmo 322
Doriguzzi, Giovanni 375 Vespasian 293
Draconin, Christoforo 319 Griffo, Francesco 98, 100
Dubois, Michel 253 Grifio, Giovanni. 350
Elmheim, Jews of 13 Guarini, Battista 118
Eleazor b. Rafael 268 Guglielmo of Moncada 30
Elijah Levita.. 109, 137, 156, 169, 184 Guillaume le Be. 183, 188, 254, 342,
. 368
193, 196, 205, 206, 237, 238, 244 370
Ephraim b. David. 333 Gunzburg, Isaac 278, 287
Ercole I of Ferrara 38 Gunzenhauser, see Ashkenazi
Essecutori contra la biastema . . 205, 268, Gutenberg 12, 13
269, 385 Hananel of Foligno 262
Expurgation of Hebrew Books ... 82, 310 Hezekiah of Ventura 48
Fagius, Paulus 197 Hieryonmus Soncinus 92
Falemo, Giovanni 401 Hiyyah Meir b. David 168, 291
Fano 88, 90, 118 Isny 197
Farissol, Abraham 30 Isserles, Moses 256, 258
Famese, Pier Luigi 248 Italia, Eleazar d' 334
Farri, Giovanni dei. . 199, 201, 205, 214 Rafael Hayyim d' 398
253 Italy 12, 14, 21, 22
Ferrara.. 32, 38, 40, 250, 277, 283, 299, Jacob Levi of Provence 33
404 Jehiel b. Solomon of Ravenna 234
Fillipono, Francesco 325 Jensen, Nicholas 27
Filoni, Girolamo 404 Joseph Ha-Cohen. .3, 5, 184, 262, 272, 292
Florence 28, 404, 405 Joseph b. Jacob of Padua 290
Foa, Gad 396 Joseph b. Jacob of Mantua 323
Isaac 396 Joseph Teomim H
Samuel 396 Joshua dei Cantori 314
Tobia 186, 290 Joshua b. Judah Samuel of Perugia . . 13
[415]
INDEX
Judah Halevi 3 Ortona by the Sea 123
Judah b. Isaac Halevi 201, 253 Orzinovi 52
Judah Samuel of Perugia 336 Padua 26, 27, 338, 341, 388, 406
Judah b. Jehiel of Naples 31 Parenzo, Asher 352, 355, 373
Judah ibn Verga 3 Jacob 367
Katorzi, Isaac ibn 64 Meir. . 187, 205, 254, 367, 368
Katzenellenbogen, Meir 254, 285 371
Kaufman, Meshullam 350 Pamas, Isaiah 196
Koster 12 "Partners," The 292
Landau, Abraham 66 Partnership 231, 250
landau, Jacob 66 Pasquato, Lorenzo 338, 388
Latif, Samuel 64, 116 Paulus Emilius 287
Lattes, Bonet de 237. 242 Perugia 115
Isaac Imraanuelde. .232, 249, 326 Pesaro 105, 107, 126
Leghorn 390. 398 Fescatol Abraham 291
Lerma, Judah di 269, 292 Pfefferkom, Joseph 161
Liechtenstein,Herman 150 Physician-printers :
[416]
INDEX
Presigno, Comino 343 Solomon 78, 79
Printer's Mark: Spain 15, 28
CavalU 349 Stagnino, Bernardino 229
Conti 316 Stamperia Bragadina 364
DiGara 352 Vendramina 372
Foa 295 Steinschneider, Moritz 76
Gabbai 400 Sttassburg 13, 16
Giustiniani 252 Strassburg, Gabriel 57
Grifio 350 Joseph 42, 48, 57
Shalit 324 Subiaco IS, 18, 20
Soncino 130 Talmi, Rafael 234
"The Partners" 292 Talmud, Confiscation of. 160, 161, 164
.
[417