ASHKENAZI, JONAH BEN JACOB
- ASHKENAZI, JONAH BEN JACOB
- ASHKENAZI, JONAH BEN JACOB (d. 1745), Hebrew printer in
Turkey. Born in Zalośce (in the province of Lemberg), Poland, Ashkenazi
immigrated to Turkey and settled in Constantinople. In 1710 he
established a new printing press, using characters which he had engraved
himself. Later he cast new ones, together with decorations for the title
pages, and finally produced some beautiful books. During the first two
years Ashkenazi was in partnership with another Polish emigrant,
Naphtali b. Azriel of Vilna. He was compelled to leave Constantinople
twice, continuing his work in the nearby village of Ortaköy. In 1720 a
consignment of his books was lost at sea, and a dishonest agent of his
fled to Poland. Ashkenazi followed him, and on his way back to
Constantinople, stopped in Amsterdam. There, in 1721, he printed the
Shitah Mekubbeẓet of bezalel ashkenazi on Bava
Meẓ'ia according to a manuscript which he had brought with him
from Constantinople. On his return to Constantinople, he printed mainly
the works of local rabbis. In 1714 he traveled to Egypt where he
received several works of Egyptian rabbis for printing. There he found a
manuscript of the Tikkunei Zohar, which had been corrected by
Ḥayyim Vital, and which he published. In 1728 he established a branch of
his press in Smyrna in partnership with R. David Ḥazzan, who later in
1739 immigrated to Palestine. The press then closed down.
During the 35 years of his activity in Constantinople and Smyrna,
Ashkenazi printed 125 books. After his death in 1745, the press passed
to his three sons: Reuben, Nissim, and Moses; later to his grandsons;
and continued until 1778. In all 180 books were printed by three
Ashkenazi generations. He printed in Ladino the Bible, a siddur,
Josippon, and the first edition of Me-Am Lo'ez, as well
as other works. Ashkenazi made Constantinople the metropolis of Hebrew
printing in the Orient.
-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Rosanes, Togarmah, 4 (1935), 391 ff.; Yaari, in: KS, 14
(1937/38), 524 ff.; 15 (1939), 97 ff., 240 ff.; idem, in:
Aresheth, 1 (1959), 97 ff.; H.B. Friedberg, Toledot
ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Italyah (19562), 127 ff.; A. Yaari,
Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Kushta (1967), index, S.V.
Yonah b. Ya'akov mi-Zalaziẓ.
(Avraham Yaari)
Encyclopedia Judaica.
1971.
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