Obj. ID: 38642
Jewish printed books  Nefesh Chaim by Chaim ben Ya'akov Falagi, Thessaloniki, 1842

This text was prepared by William Gross:

Title page with simple typographical border.
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 Portguese 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.
Members of the Halevi Ashkenazi family were amongst the foremost Hebrew printers in Salonica during the 18th-19th C. The scion of the family, Bezalel Ashkenazi, came to the city from Amsterdam in 1740 and operated a press until his death in 1756, when it was taken over by his sons until 1763. Bezalel’s grandson, Sa’adi Halevi Ashkenazi, established a new printing house in 1792 which continued to operate after his death until 1839 (through his brother and his brother’s widow and sons).
The printer of this volume, Sa’adi Halevi Ashkenazi (the Second), was another descendant of this veteran printing family, and was the most important Hebrew printer in Salonica in the 19th C. He was active from 1840-1902. It is known that he travelled to Vienna to buy new equipment for his printing press, and his longstanding occupation in the printing trade earned him the nickname “Ha[ch]am Sa’adi el de la Estampa” (Hacham Sa’adi, the printer). Within a period of 60 years he printed over 200 items. His printing house brought out the first Jewish journal in the city, El Lunar and this was followed by his own journal, La Epoka. His printing house was named after him in 1875.