Hebrew Bible printed on parchment, Naples, 1492

Hebrew Bible printed on parchment

Naples: Joshua Solomon Soncino, [1492] 

A Rare Copy of the Second Printed Hebrew Bible

Description:

In the wake of the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century, Jews quickly and enthusiastically adopted the new technology for the printing of Hebrew books. Italy was the cradle of Hebrew printing, with the first Hebrew books printed in Rome between 1469-1472. During this period, Italy was home to the most prosperous Jewish communities in Europe, providing the expertise, readership, and capital that enabled a rapid expansion of Hebrew book production.

Among the pioneers of early Hebrew printing in Italy, the Soncino family is undoubtedly the most prominent, innovative, and prolific. Originally from Speyer in Germany, the Soncinos established a printing dynasty that dominated Hebrew printing for nearly a century. In 1483, Israel Nathan and his son Joshua Solomon founded their press at Soncino, a small town near Cremona in the Duchy of Milan. There they printed eighteen titles before moving their operation to Naples in 1490. Members of the family subsequently set up shops in multiple locations in Italy, with Gershom (son of Moses; Joshua’s nephew) the most active, ultimately extending Soncino printing into the Ottoman Empire. The family was responsible for printing more than sixty incunables, the majority of Hebrew incunabula produced in Italy.

Technically and typographically, the Soncinos were innovators. In 1488, they issued the first complete printed Hebrew Bible. One reason suggested for the belated printing of the Hebrew Bible is the difficulty of incorporating vowels (nikudot) and cantillation marks (te’amim) and it is a testament to the family’s remarkable inventiveness and skill that their edition included full vocalization and cantillation throughout. The Soncinos also pioneered the complex page architecture of the Talmud with its various commentaries later standardized by the Venetian printer Daniel Bomberg, and they broadened the range of genres available to Jewish readers by printing books of belles-lettres, some even with illustrations.

The present volume, the Soncinos’ Naples Hebrew Bible, is the second complete printed Hebrew Bible. Remarkably, it is printed on vellum rather than on paper, a technically challenging and costly procedure. The extensive use of such an expensive material—traditionally employed for Torah scrolls—testifies to the great importance they accorded this landmark edition. The Soncinos also took great pride in the aesthetics of their work and were the first Hebrew printers to introduce ornamented initials. Their artistic sensibility is vividly displayed in this edition of the Bible in the elaborate metalcuts used to mark textual divisions. Only ten full copies of this edition are known, along with five partial copies. This copy is the fullest to appear on the market in many decades.

Physical Description:

Folio (275 x 200 mm); printed on parchment; 198 folios, original printed foliation appears on versos. Genesis 18:17 to Ecclesiastes 7:15 (10r–120v) and Psalms to 2 Chronicles 6:30 (225r–414v). Type: square Hebrew type: large display; large square (with vocalization and cantillation); small square (for numeration of verses). Decoration: initials and borders attributed to Ayolfus de Cantono. Binding: later decoratively blind-stamped brown morocco, spine with six raised bands and gilt title; gilt edges and turn-ins; patterned cloth endpapers.

Provenance: The Chicago Theological Seminary, Hammond Library (pastedown label); Current owner.

Reference:

ISTC ib00525520; Goff Heb-9; Offenberg 11; Iakerson 61.

Literature:

Otto Lehman, “The Hebrew Treasures of the Chicago Theological Seminary,” The Chicago Theological Seminary Register 57:5 (1967), 1–10.

Shimon M. Iakerson, Catalogue of Hebrew Incunabula from the Collection of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary (New York, 2005).

Adri K. Offenberg, Hebrew Incunabula in Public Collections: A First International Consensus (Nieuwkoop, 1990).