Obj. ID: 36224  Machzor, Prague, 1834

This text was prepared by William Gross:

Moshe Israel Landau (1788-1852) was an Austrian printer, publisher, and lexographer, and the grandson on R' Yechazkel Landau (Av Bet Din of Prague, and the author of the Nodeh be-Yehudah). After finishing his studies at a yeshivah, he established a Hebrew and Oriental printing-press in Prague in 1824, which became important in the annals of Hebrew typography. Landau's chief merit as a typographer is due to the fact that he always personally supervised the correction of the works published in his establishment, so that they issued from the press with scarcely a fault.
Landau's collection of all the foreign words found in Rashi (on the Bible and Talmud), in the Tosafot, in Maimonides, and in Rosh, is of lasting value. The work, entitled "Marpe Lashon," was published first in his edition of the Mishnah (Prague, 1829-31), then in the editions of the Talmud (ib. 1829-31 and 1839-45) and in his edition of the Bible (ib. 1833-37). It has also appeared separately (Odessa, 1865), with notes by Dormitzer.
Landau's printer's mark in this volume shows a shield carrying his Latin monogram M I L (Moshes I. Landau). The shield is flanked by two cornocopia and topped by an eagle carrying a tool of the printer's trade in its beak (Ya'ari 199). A very similar mark was used by the Lviv printer Leib Balaban (Ya'ari 200, and see B.528), who, according to Ya'ari, likely copied the design from Landau.
Machzor: 1 of 5 volumes