Obj. ID: 37388
Jewish printed books Arba'ah ve-'Esrim, Venice, 1739
This text was prepared by William Gross:
One of the most beautiful examples of printing from the Jewish presses of Venice around the middle of the 18th century is this bible printed in 1739. The text of the edition is arranged very elegantly. But further contributing to the beauty is a series of etchings by the Italian artist Francisco Griselini, who etched the plates for this book and for several other Hebrew printed works, including a Succah plaque presented in this exhibition. The pages between the books of the bible carry illustrated episodes from the biblical text. The etching on this page contains the story of the "Akedat Yitzhak", the sacrifice of Isaac, a very popular motif for illustrations in Hebrew printing. The printed pages, with gilt and gauffered edges, are bound in a magnificent gold tooled leather binding, completing a most elegant example of the art of bookmaking in Venice. That city had been the primary location for Jewish printing during the 16th and 17th centuries. Even after Amsterdam replaced Venice and Italy as the major Hebrew printing center towards and into the 18th century, Venice continued to include Hebrew printing among the proFezsions of the city.
The illustrations are etchings from the hand of an artist named Griselini. It would appear that he was not Jewish, but worked with Hebrew printers in Venice. We have from him illustrations in several Hebrew books, an engraved Esther Megillah and a Succah decorative plaque. This is the frontispiece of a Mahzor, showing the Akedah with Yitzhak in a sitting position, an image whose source is in Christian iconography. It is also the central image in one of the full page illustrations in this large Tanach printed in Venice in 1739.
The Bragadin press was established in Venice in 1550 by Alvise Bragadin. This press continued as one of Venice’s leading Hebrew print-shops, issuing Hebrew titles in the 18th C under several generations of Bragadins (the last of whom was Alvise III). In the last decades of the The Seventeenth Century Hebrew Book, when this book was published, only the family name, Bragadin, or Nella Stamparia Bragadina appears on the title pages. Throughout the years, the output of the Bragadini press was considerable, and covered the gamut of Hebrew works. The press was somewhat unusual, however, in that the Bragadins themselves did not always take an active role in their printing-house, leaving its operation to other printers, and lending their name to other presses.
FOA
1000 pp.