Obj. ID: 36049
Jewish printed books  Yalkut Shim'oni, Polonne (Polonnoe), 1805

This text was prepared by William Gross:

The second part of Yalkut Shim'oni, an popular aggadic compilation on the books of the Hebrew Bible. The author collected various interpretations and explanations of Biblical passages that were accessible to him, and arranged these according to the sequence of those portions of the Bible to which they referred.
Polna (Polonnye) became a center of Jewish learning during the last half of the 18th century.  Chassidic rabbis Aryeh Judah Leib  (the 'Mokhiah' of Polonnoye, d. 1770) and later Jacob Joseph Ha-Kohen (d. 1782) carried on the teachings of the Ba’al Shem Tov.  Hebrew printing also flourished there from 1782-1820.  Active were printers Samuel b. Issachar Ber [Segal] and Joseph b. Tzevi ha-Kohen. Together they published some 90 kabbalistic, chassidic, and ethical works, some in Yiddish.
On the title page appears a shield emblazoned with a flower and suspended from foliate branches. This device includes the name of the printer, "Shmuel Madpis" [Samuel the Printer], refering to Samuel b. Issachar Ber Segal. Segal printed Hebrew books in several locations, all of them centers of Chassidic printing: Korec, Polna, Shklov, Otsroh, and Berdychiv. The device seen on this volume appears on some, but not all of his publications. (Ya'ari, 179) See B.669 (Berdichev).
Variations of this device appear on other volumes issued by other printers both in and outside of Polna. An earlier example, from 1804, is see on a book printed by Yosef ben Tzvi Hacohen (B.544). Later examples (B. 541 and B. 542) bear no indication of the printer. The panel which here bears the printer's name is not included in the earliest example, and is filled with flowers in the later ones. See also B.553.