<Hebrew Printing. [[in Istanbul]]
From the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 18th, Istanbul was one of the centers of Hebrew printing. The Ottoman Empire and its capital served as a refuge for Jews fleeing from Spain and Portugal after the expulsion of 1492 and 1497, some of whom brought with them their skill in the new art of printing, as well as manuscripts of great rabbinic writers of the past. Later, Marranos escaping the Inquisition played a similar part.
In the Ottoman Empire Hebrew books could be printed and sold freely, without the hindrance of the Christian Church. Books were also printed in Spanish (in Hebrew characters), both original manuscripts and translations from Hebrew and other languages, for which there was a growing demand throughout the Spanish-Portuguese diaspora.
THE 15TH AND 16TH CENTURIES.
[Jewish family Nahmias from Spain bringing the printing press to the Ottoman Empire - the first printed Hebrew books]
The first Hebrew printing press - which was the first printing press in any language in the Ottoman Empire, the first book in Turkish being printed in 1728 - was set up in Istanbul in 1493 by David and Samuel ibn *Nahmias, exiles from Spain. Their first book was Jacob b. Asher's Arba'ah Turim. It was followed a year later by a volume of the Pentateuch with Rashi, haftarot with David Kimhi's commentary, the Five Scrolls with the commentary of Abraham ibn Ezra, and the Antiochus Scroll. The Nahmias family were active until 1518.
In this early period of Hebrew printing in Istanbul (1504-30) more than 100 books or remarkable range and quality were published, among them, Midrashim, the Aggadot ha-Talmud (forerunner of Jacob ibn *Habib's Ein Ya'akov), geonic works, Alfasi, Maimonides' Code - printed for the second time, but on the basis of another manuscript - and his Sefer ha-Mitzvot as well as his responsa and letters.
[Prints under the Soncino family from Italy]
Meanwhile, Gershom *Soncino and his son Eliezer had arrived in Istanbul from Italy, and their press published over 40 books between 1530 and 1547, including a Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos, Rashi, and Saadiah's Arabic and Jacob b. Joseph *Tavus' Persian translations (1545-46), followed by another Pentateuch edition, also with Targum Onkelos and Rashi, and translations into Greek and Spanish, both in Hebrew characters with vowel signs (1547).
Eliezer also printed a Hebrew translation, by the physician Jacob Algabe, of the Spanish romance Amadis de Gaula, the first secular work in Hebrew to be printed in Istanbul. A former employee of the Soncinos', Moses b. Eliezer Parnas, continued printing on their press after Eliezer's death in 1548, publishing at least five books by 1553.
[Prints under the Halicz brothers from Poland]
Others active in printing during the period were the *Halicz brothers, printers from Cracow who publicly returned to Judaism in Istanbul after having undergone baptism in Poland in 1537. Between 1551 and 1553 they printed a Hebrew Bible, Isaac of Dueren's halakhic compendium Sha'arei Dura, and a Hebrew version of Judith.
[Prints under the Jabez family from Spain]
More important were the activities of Solomon and Joseph, the sons of Isaac *Jabez from Spain, who arrived in Istanbul via Salonika and Adrianople. From 1559 until his death in 1593, Solomon, in partnership with his brother Joseph from 1570, printed such important items as the responsa of R. Elijah Mizrahi (1559) and R. Joseph ibn Lev (1561) and, in particular, the larger part of the Talmud (1583-93).
Eliezer b. Isaac (Ashkenazi) of Prague, a Hebrew printer from Lublin, went to Istanbul in 1575 with his equipment and printed geonic responsa and part of the Mahzor Romania. After a dispute with his partner in this enterprise, David b. Elijah Kashti, the rest of the Mahzor was printed by Kashti at the press of Joseph Jabez (1575-78). Under the patronage of Reyna, daughter of Doña Gracia, the widow of Joseph Nasi, Joseph b. Isaac of Ashkelon printed some 15 books, one of them in Ladino, of no great distinction, first at the palace of (col. 1097)
Belvedere at Ortaköy, 1592-94, and later at Kuru Tsheshmé, 1597-99. Manuscripts from Joseph Nasi's library were published by his interpreter R. Isaac b. Samuel *Onkeneira.> (col. 1098)
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