Obj. ID: 35294
Jewish printed books Tefillot ke-Minhag Ashkenaz, Hanau, 1628
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
This book is an unvocalized daily prayerbook according to the German and Polish rites.
Bound w with Zot Torath ha-Chatath (B.9), a legal guidebook focusing primarily on Jewish dietary laws, written by R' Moses Isserles (Rama). What is astounding in both of these volumes is the presence on the title page of a nude female figure: Venus rising from the waters on a seashell. It is safe to say that this the only known Hebrew printed prayer book with a nude woman on the title page. This same printed frame was used for an edition of Edut Ya'akov by Jacob b. Jekutiel Kaufmann, likely printed in Hanau in the same year (printer and city unspecified). The nude Venus is also seen on Hena's edition of Sefer ha-Roke'ah (Hanau, 1630), a halakhic digest by R. Eleazer of Worms. A similar device was used in the 16th C by the Venetian printer, Allesandro Gardano, whose only Hebrew title, a small Shulchan Aruch (Venice, 1578), similarly bears the nude rising Venus on its title page (see GFC B.1785).
Hans Jacob Hena established his press in 1610, transforming his city into a significant center of Hebrew printing. He issued such important works as responsa by Jacob Weil , Solomon b. Abraham Aderet, and Judah Minz as well as Jacob b. Asher's Arba'ah Turim. Employing both Jews and gentiles, his press produced a great number of rabbinic, kabbalistic, and liturgical items within about 20 years.