Obj. ID: 38008 Yad Yemin by Michael Ya'akov Yisrael, Izmir, 1879
sub-set tree:
This text was prepared by William Gross:
Frontispiece with typographical frame and central ornament.
Izmir became an important center of Hebrew printing in the Ottoman Empire beginning in the mid-17th century. Its first printing house was founded in 1657 by Avraham b. Yedidya Gabbai, who published in Izmir in two distinct periods, from 1657-1660, and again from 1671-1675. After Gabbai left Izmir, all printing activity in that city ceased for the next fifty years. It was resumed between 1728-1739, and again between 1754-1767, and then lay dormant again for another 60 years.
Only from the mid-19th century onward did Hebrew printing in Izmir continue uninterrupted until 1950. Several printing houses were active in the 1850’s, including that of the brothers Ya’akov and Avraham Ashkenazi. In 1857, after Ya’akov had ceased his printing activities, his equipment began to be used by Benzion Binyamin b. R’ Yehoshua Moses Roditi, who issued the present volume in 1879.