April 22 1488 – 11 Iyar 5248
Joshua Solomon Soncino finished printing the first edition of the complete Hebrew bible, in the Italian town from which he took his family name.
Four years later, the Soncino family published the first printed edition of the Mishna on the same Hebrew date (May 8 1492), this time at their printing house in Napoli. Moses Maimonides’ commentary appeared together with the text of the Mishna, making two seminal Jewish works widely available for the first time. In this short time, the Soncino press had already been forced to relocate a number of times. Further moves were ahead for the illustrious printing house – to Brescia, Fano, Pesaro and Rimini and finally Constantinople. The fact that Jewish printers continued to produce books despite ongoing persecution and in the face of the shattering trauma of the Spanish expulsion (just three months after the Mishna was printed in Napoli) is testimony to their determination to keep Jewish tradition alive – and their conviction that the written – or printed – word was their best insurance policy.
Small wonder that the Soncino family’s printing emblem was a “tower of strength.”
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