This collection embodies the important tradition of book\u00a0 production from an era when Jewish bookmaking in Venice radically transformed Jewish culture and the dynamics of its transmission. Over fifty per cent of early Jewish publishing was produced in Venice.<\/p>\n
The various printing facilities \u2013\u00a0 owned by Christian entrepreneurs \u2013 were the site of intense cultural exchanges between intellectuals, rabbis, proofreaders, typesetters, and composers. \u00a0Printshops became a point of encounter among Jews, Christians, and Marranos.<\/p>\n
This presentation, which includes some of the most significant books in\u00a0the Venetian library, is meant as a window on a diverse world and its cultural production. It shed light on the period immediately preceding the invention of movable type and on the historical context in which written text circulated only through manuscripts among restricted circles of users.<\/p>\n
The introduction of the printing press revived the production of manuscripts used for liturgical purpose and philosophical exchanges and that were not widely circulated.<\/p>\n
Three of the most precious\u00a0manuscripts owned by the Venetian Library,\u00a0are featured\u00a0 in this exhibition, attesting to the continuity of the culture and importance of writing that accompanied the unfolding of Jewish tradition. These manuscripts are now\u00a0 transformed in multimedia form and made to a wider audience.<\/p>\n[\/aesop_content]\n[aesop_quote type=”block” background=”#86d8d0″ text=”#fbfbfb” align=”left” size=”2″ img=”http:\/\/www.primolevicenter.org\/cplexhibitions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/COPERTINA2.jpg” quote=”Venetian library treasures spanning from the earliest book printed in the city to the last one, from 1521 and 1862.” parallax=”on” direction=”right” revealfx=”off”]\n[aesop_gallery id=”698″ revealfx=”off”]\n\n[aesop_content color=”#314e68″ background=”#FFFFFF” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up” revealfx=”off”]Like most Jewish libraries and museums in Italy, the Renato Maestro Library\u2019s collection of manuscripts and books, increased over the centuries, shaped by the development of\u00a0the learning and religious institutions of the Jewish community of Venice.<\/p>\n
Not only were these\u00a0books used by Venetian Jews and non-Jews but were also printed in Venice, as a result of exchanges and\u00a0negotiations with the ruling powers as well as\u00a0of an effort of self-representation and control that developed within the Jewish minority.<\/p>\n
Titles span from prayer books to juridic text, biblical and Talmudic literature, and grammars.<\/p>\n
The library as we know it today, incorporates a number of\u00a0older collections: the Talmud Tor\u00e0\u2019s library, the libraries of the various synagogues or \u201cscuole\u201d (especially the Italian and Spanish schools), private libraries of rabbis, sages and teachers. A substantial section contains the books of the Angelo Sullam\u2019s library\u00a0(Venice 1881-1971).<\/p>\n
In the period prior to the Second World War, the study center called Convegno di Studi Ebraici, located at the Castello in Calle del Rimedio, also had a library. Lending records show the circulation of mostly contemporary literature, philosophy and Zionist books. During the prewar years, there is hardly evidence that these\u00a0treasures of the early modern period were used. From\u00a0library documents\u00a0we learn that between 1941 and 1946 the library was shut down and that many rare books that were part of its collection may have disappeared.<\/p>\n[\/aesop_content]\n\n\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/www.primolevicenter.org\/cplexhibitions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/a4.jpg” parallaxbg=”fixed” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off” floater=”on” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”none”]\n\n\n[aesop_quote type=”block” background=”#86d8d0″ text=”#f8f9cc” align=”left” size=”2″ quote=”The rare books and manuscripts housed at the Renato Maestro reflect the interests of 15th and 16th century humanists in the Hebrew language and the Jewish tradition. With the advent of the printing press, Hebrew books where produced by and for both Jews and Christians and became a tool by which societal and cultural relations were defined. Censorship increasingly became the context in which this process occurred.” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]\n\n\n[aesop_gallery id=”605″ revealfx=”off”]\n[aesop_character img=”http:\/\/www.primolevicenter.org\/cplexhibitions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Parenzo.jpg” name=”Asher Parenzo” caption=”Printer” align=”left” force_circle=”on”]\n
Only two Jewish publishers worked in Venice using their own colophon seal: Asher Parenzo in the Fifteen Hundreds and Gad ben Yi\u0219\u1e25aq Foa in the Seventeen Hundreds. Foa was the last publisher of Hebrew books in Venice and closed his activity in 1809.<\/p>\n[aesop_gallery id=”104″ revealfx=”off”]\n[aesop_content color=”#314e68″ background=”#FFFFFF” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up” revealfx=”off”]On May 29, 1554 the ecclesiastic authorities established that all books, those already printed and those being prepared for printing, should be examined to ascertain whether they contained \u201cerrors, heresies and blasphemies\u201d against Christianity. This was the start of censorship.<\/p>\n
To protect existing books and obtain printing licenses for those in process, the representatives of the Jewish communities decided that each book in Hebrew and on Jewish topics be analyzed by a committee of three rabbis and three lay leaders to eliminate passages that might raise controversies. This internal committee then released the haskamah<\/em>, the authorization.<\/p>\n The censorship process was administered in various stages and ratified by a representative of the Sant\u2019Uffizio, a Christian scholar and the ducal secretary.The results of the examination was submitted to the Venetian Council of the Ten who either granted or denied permission to print. In 1569 the Council also decreed that one copy of the manuscript be deposited with the censorship office and compared with the printed volume. In 1571 Jews were prohibited to print and to use Christian middlemen. After 1634, Jews were allowed only to proofread books.<\/p>\n[\/aesop_content]\n\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/www.primolevicenter.org\/cplexhibitions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/conservation.jpg” parallaxbg=”fixed” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off” floater=”on” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”none”]\n\n\n[aesop_quote type=”block” background=”#ed9644″ text=”#fbfbfb” align=”left” size=”2″ quote=”All of a sudden, on May 16, 1635, the guards raided the printshop and captured my nephew Jizchaq and two of his young co-workers and put them in jail, leaving them in the dark. Once again, they shut down the print shop. Leon Modena ” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]\n\n[aesop_gallery id=”582″ revealfx=”off”]\n[aesop_content color=”#314e68″ background=”#FFFFFF” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up” revealfx=”off”]Meir Parenzo is said to have learned printing from Daniel Bomberg. Between 1546 and 1548 he printed some highly praised editions, including a Mishn\u00e0<\/em>. He died in 1575 while curating a complete edition of Maimonides\u2019 Mishneh Torah<\/em> in four volumes which were completed by his brother Asher Parenzo. Asher introduced a new seal in place of the a seven-branches candelabra used by his brother: the new logo mark represented a woman holding the head of a dragon and seven snakes staring at the sun, the moon and a star. In the oval frame words from Psalm 45, 12 appear: \u201cSo shall the king desire thy beauty\u201d.<\/p>\n[\/aesop_content]\n\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/www.primolevicenter.org\/cplexhibitions\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bibbia.jpg” parallaxbg=”fixed” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off” floater=”on” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”none”]\n\n[aesop_content color=”#314e68″ background=”#FFFFFF” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up” revealfx=”off”]Between 1731 and 1797 three members of the Foa family worked for Bragadin: Yi\u0219\u1e25aq Foa, a physician and one of the heads of the Jewish community, his son Gad ben Yi\u0219\u1e25aq, and Gad ben Shmuel who later move the print-shop to Pisa. The Foas printed about eighty editions, including many prayer books for Jewish congregations in Constantinople. In this last phase, Foa printed about fifteen editions, the last one, an important volume collecting Kiddushim of the Orach chayim<\/em> section of Yosef Caro\u2019s Shulchan \u2018aruk<\/em>. The book was published under the title Minchat Aharon<\/em> by Ya\u2018aqov Pardo, Rabbi of Ragusa and Spalato at the beginning of the 18th century. In the Foa seal there is a tree with a star of David in the branches and two lions leaning on the trunk accompanied with words from Psalm 92, 13 \u201cThe righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree\u201d and a note \u201cdegel la-otot av ha-madpis\u201d (seal from the house of the printer\u2019s father).<\/p>\n[\/aesop_content]\n\n[aesop_content color=”#333333″ background=”#FFFFFF” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up” revealfx=”off”]References: Gadi Luzzatto, Introduction to the Catalogue of the Renato Maestro Library and Archive<\/em>, 2016, Chiara Camarda, Catalogue of the Renato Maestro Library and Archive<\/em>, 2016, Marvin J. Heller, Further Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book<\/em>, 2013, Giuliano Tamani, Di alcuni stampatori in ebraico a Venezia nei secoli XVI-XVII-XVIII<\/em>, 2015<\/p>\n[\/aesop_content]\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. 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