Obj. ID: 37960
Jewish printed books Machzor...Minhag Sefaradim, Venice, 1735
This text was prepared by William Gross:
This volume contains the prayers for the High Hoidays. It is contained within a beautiful silver binding with a gilded coat of arms of the Cohen family, Gross Family Collection 025.001.016 This book was apparently used in the part of Italy, PIedmont, that was for a while in the 18th century, under the control of the French, as a section of a French Machzor has been inserted in the middle of the volume or, alternative, it was a some point imported into France for use there, as indicated by the import French silver mark on the binding.
The Bragadin press was established in Venice in 1550 by Alvise Bragadin. This press continued as one of Venice’s leading Hebrew print-shops, issuing Hebrew titles in the 18th C under several generations of Bragadins (the last of whom was Alvise III). In the last decades of the The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book, when this book was published, only the family name, Bragadin, or Nella Stamparia Bragadina appears on the title pages. Throughout the years, the output of the Bragadini press was considerable, and covered the gamut of Hebrew works. The press was somewhat unusual, however, in that the Bragadins themselves did not always take an active role in their printing-house, leaving its operation to other printers, often Jewish, and lending their name to other presses. The pages of this printing are gilt and embossed with gauffering.