Obj. ID: 36417 Le-Yesharim Tehilah, Józefów Biłgorajski (Ordynacki), 1825
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This text was prepared by William Gross:
In the 19th century, Jozefow was a center for printing Hebrew books. In 1824, the first printing house was established in the Hebrew language for printing prayer books and books in Yiddish. The printing house, headed by David Sa'diah Isaiah b. Bezalel Wacks, operated for about 35 years and was considered the largest in East Europe at that time. It provided a source of employment and livelihood for many Jewish individuals as typesetters, printers, proofreaders, bookbinders etc.
Almost every book printed in Jozefow during this period includes the mark of Count Zamoyski, whose estate the town was, and under whose auspices its printing presses operated. The mark appears in four variants (Ya'ari, nos.195-198), all of which are represented in the Gross Family Collection (see B.1844, B.526, and B.683).
In this example (Ya'ari 198), the mark shows a shield topped by a crown, out of whose top emerges a goat facing left. Flanking the shield on either side are, according to Ya'ari, tools used by the printer and typesetter. The surrounding rectangular frame encloses the words: Drukarni wp.[?] ord Zamoyskiego w miasta iozefowie F.