Constantinople, Yonah ben Yaakov Ashkenazi, 1711
Joseph Almosnino (1642â1689) was a Gaon (literarily genius, a scholarly title given to eminent Jewish scholars), the chief Rabbi and judge of the Rabbinical court in Belgrade. He authored numerous Responsa works, that were collected by his son Isaac under the title Edut beYehosef (Testimonies in Joseph) and published in Constantinople, first part in 1711, and the second in 1733. Joseph Almosnino was captured by the Austrian army and died while in captivity, at Nikolsburg, Moravia in 1689.
This first part of the work was one of the earliest books to be printed by the Hebrew press of Yonah ben Yaakov Ashkenazi of Zaliztsi (Zilozitz), a small town not far from Lviv (modern day Ukraine). Ashkenazi came to Constantinople towards the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century, where he received the moniker Ashkenaz, a reference to his Eastern-European heritage. It was Ashkenazi who revived Hebrew printing in Constantinople, which by that time had been in decline for about two decades, following the death of the printer Abraham Franco in the last quoter of the 17th century. Ashkenazi was the printer who made Constantinolpe the centre of Hebrew printing in the mid-18th century. His printing house was the longest lasting of all the Hebrew presses in Constantinople, managed for 33 years by Ashkenazi himself and for another 36 years by his sons following his death, publishing no less than 188 books from 1710 to 1778. More about the life and work of Yonah Ashkenazi can be found in Yaari's Hebrew Printing at Constantinople (1967).
First edition; large 4to; [4], 2-116, [2] ll. Old prominent owners' signatures, old censorship stamps and some restoration to title page. Contemporary style paneled calf, boards decorated in blind, label in English to spine stamped in gilt.
This first part of the work was one of the earliest books to be printed by the Hebrew press of Yonah ben Yaakov Ashkenazi of Zaliztsi (Zilozitz), a small town not far from Lviv (modern day Ukraine). Ashkenazi came to Constantinople towards the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century, where he received the moniker Ashkenaz, a reference to his Eastern-European heritage. It was Ashkenazi who revived Hebrew printing in Constantinople, which by that time had been in decline for about two decades, following the death of the printer Abraham Franco in the last quoter of the 17th century. Ashkenazi was the printer who made Constantinolpe the centre of Hebrew printing in the mid-18th century. His printing house was the longest lasting of all the Hebrew presses in Constantinople, managed for 33 years by Ashkenazi himself and for another 36 years by his sons following his death, publishing no less than 188 books from 1710 to 1778. More about the life and work of Yonah Ashkenazi can be found in Yaari's Hebrew Printing at Constantinople (1967).
First edition; large 4to; [4], 2-116, [2] ll. Old prominent owners' signatures, old censorship stamps and some restoration to title page. Contemporary style paneled calf, boards decorated in blind, label in English to spine stamped in gilt.
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