Seder Tephiloth Keminhag Sephard [prayers for the entire year]. According to Sephardic rite. Edited by Joshua Sarphati. Including Seder Chamesh Ta’anioth [prayers for the five fast days]

(LITURGY)

Joseph Athias

Amsterdam

1658-9

Three parts in one volume. Three titles within woodcut architectural borders

Vinograd, Amsterdam 252; Fuks, Amsterdam 376

THE FIRST HEBREW BOOK PRINTED BY JOSEPH ATHIAS. An ambitious project for the first production of a fledgling press, the Seder Tephiloth is an elegent book. Aged 23 years when his press began operation, it is unclear whether Athias learned the printer’s craft prior to settling in Amsterdam. Although no mention is made in the book itself, it is clear from other books produced by Athias in 1659 that Gimpel Mordechai, the son of the printer Judah Leib of Posen was one of Athias’ first assistants and no doubt brought the skills he had leaned at his father’s house to Athias. Joseph Athias utilized an innovative printing technique, the “stereotype method” whereby each sheet was composed and fixed in iron frames, thus allowing for a larger print run in a relatively short time. See: L. Fuks, Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands 1585-1815, Part II (1987), pp. 286-307 and A. M. Habermann, Perakim Be’toldoth Ha’madpisim Ha’Ivri’im (1978) pp. 293-310