Obj. ID: 35965
Jewish printed books Yalkut Shim'oni by Shimon Frankfurter, Frankfurt an der Oder, 1709
This text was prepared by William Gross:
Midrashic anthology to the Bible. The Yalkut is the best known and most comprehensive Midrashic anthology, covering the whole Bible. Much has been written as to the identity of the Author or age of the work. It ranges from 980 to 1500 with the 13th century as the last date. Nothing is known of the Author, R. Simeon the Preacher of Frankfurt, attributions to other well known authors have all been disThe great midrashic commentary, perhaps the largest, on the entire Bible. Most often simply attributed to R. Simeon of Frankfurt.
Architectural frontispiece showing the figures of Moses and Aaron. An illustration of David and Goliath below is flanked by two bare-breasted, winged female torsos.
Although R. Simeon cannot be identified with any certainty, he is believed to have been a resident of Frankfurt, where he was a preacher, in the thirteenth century, as sages prior to that time do not refer to the Yalkut. His monumental work utilizes the entire corpus of early midrashic as well as talmudic and other sources. It is a comprehensive work, arranged by verse, covering all twenty-four books of the Bible.
The Yalkut was first printed in Salonika, 1521 (Prophets and Hagiographa) and 1526 (Torah). This edition was published in Frankfurt d.O. , 1709.
Michael Gottschalk was a local bookbinder and bookdealer who took over the management of Johann Christoph Beckman's printing press in Frankfort d.O. in 1693. Gottschalk became the moving spirit of the press for almost four decades. His most ambitious project was a completed edition of the Talmud, printed in 1697-1699, a work for which the Frankfurt press is best known to this day.
[1], 313; 190 ff., small folio