Sixteenth-Century Jewish Makers of Printed Books and the Shaping of Late Renaissance Jewish Literacy

Abstract

This study is a contribution toward the understanding of the social and economic conditions of the early printing in Hebrew characters. It concentrates on the role of the makers of the Hebrew book - authors, editors, printers, correctors, and publishers.

All of them were agents whose effort was indispensable especially in the publishing of the learned literature in Hebrew between 1500-1650. This study shifts the focus from the "medium" of the printed book to those who were behind its creation.

It claims that it is important to correlate the material conditions of the production of learned Hebrew printed books with the Jewish practices of reading, which were culturally specific.

Keywords

• Jewish history
• early modern period
• book history
• practices of reading
• Hebrew literature
• cultural history
• printing