Gal shel Egozim [expositions on the book of Genesis]

EGOZI, MENACHEM BEN MOSES

Joseph Ascaloni for Dona Reyna, Duchess of Naxos

Belvedere

(c.1593-95)

FIRST EDITION. With stamp of Raphael ibn Zur of Fez

Vinograd, Const. 306; Ya’ari, Const. 228; Adams M-1247

Following the death in 1593 of the Constantinople-based Hebrew printer Solomon Jabez, Dona Reyna widow of the illustrious Don Joseph Nasi, used the remaining inheritance left to her following the expropriation of much of her wealth and established a printing-press in her Palace of Belvedere in nearby Orta-Koy. For reasons unclear, the press was soon transferred to Kuru-Cesme, another suburb of Constantinople. Thus, “the noble lady of noble lineage” became the first Jewish woman to establish a printing-press. Menachem Egozi, the Turkish Talmudist and author of this work also served as an editor for the press at Belvedere. See: C. Roth, The House of Nasi-The Duke of Naxos (1948) pp. 217-19. This copy with manuscript historical notes in a Sephardic hand concerning the Author. The scribe records that Egozi lived in the mid-late 16th-century and composed other works, Tokphu shel Boaz on the Book of Ruth, Mekor Dima on Lamentations and Igereth Ha’purim on the Book of Esther. These works have never been published and remain in manuscript