Obj. ID: 36418  Ohel Ya'akov, Józefów Biłgorajski (Ordynacki), 1830

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.682).
In this example (Ya'ari 197), the mark shows a crowned shield, out of whose top emerges a goat facing left. The words "Drukarni w miescie Jozefowie w dobrach J Wo Hr. Ordy Zamoyskiego prezesa senatu K.P.F." form an oval around, while the whole is enclosed in an architectural pediment.