Obj. ID: 37222
Jewish printed books Shagat Aryeh, Thessaloniki (Salonika), 1746
This text was prepared by William Gross:
Collection of responsa by Aryeh Leib ben Samuel Ẓevi Hirsch, published by has grandson, R. Abraham Nathan Neta Meisels, who added his own responsa under the title Kol Shachal.
Ornate frontispiece in the form of an archway, formed from individual woodcut decorations and typographical elements.
The history of Hebrew printing in Salonica began in the early 16th and lasted some 400 years, being brought to an end only with the Nazi conquest. The first Hebrew press was established in Salonica in 1512 by a Portuguese printer and émigré, Ibn Gedalya. By the 1560’s, with the mass influx of former Marranos from the Iberian Peninsula, printing activity in Salonica reached its height, with more than 120 books published (including a few in Ladino). With the exception of a short period, however, the city did not have any well-established printing house until the end of the 17th century.
By the mid-18th century, several printing houses which were to enjoy long periods of activity had been founded. Bezalel Halevi Ashkenazi was of the foremost Hebrew printers of this period in Salonica, and became the scion of a family of printers who remained active until the early 20th century. Bezalel Ashkenazi came to the city from Amsterdam in 1740. He leased and renovated the printing house from the Talmud Torah Society in Salonica, and, between 1740 and his death in 1756, produced more than thirty five books which are noted for their high printing quality. His sons continued to operate the press after his death (1756-1763), as “The Orphans of Bezalel Halevi” (see B.2047, B.1338)
Bezalel’s grandson, Sa’adi Halevi Ashkenazi, established a new printing house in 1792, and another descendant, also called Sa’adi Halevi Ashkenazi (the Second) became the most important Hebrew printer in Salonica in the 19th C.
For a similar title page from the Sa’adi Halevi’s press, see B.1587 (1797).