Obj. ID: 37230
Jewish printed books  Shir ha-Shirim, Thessaloniki (Salonika), 1843

This text was prepared by William Gross:

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 יmigrי, 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. The foremost printing family in Salonica was the Halevi Ashkenazi, whose scion, Bezalel, established his press in 1740. His grandsons Sa’adi and Bezalel were also active printers in their day.
Yitzhak Jahon, the printer of this volume, had been a worker in the printing house of (the grandson) Bezalel Halevi Ashkenazi . He engaged in independent printing activity in Salonica from 1828-1855.