Haskamah Chamurah [broadside granting sole Hebrew printing rights to Abraham Sassoon]

(ALEPPO)

Aleppo

9th Iyar, 1865

ONLY EDITION

Yaari, Aleppo pp.36-7 (illustrated)

Hebrew printing in Aleppo began in 1866. Until then, Hebrew manuscripts were sent from Aleppo to the Hebrew presses of Europe. This document heralds the start of Hebrew printing in the city. Signed by fifty two Syrian Rabbis, it grants Abraham Sassoon a twenty year exclusive privilege to establish a press in Aleppo, and forbids all industrial competition, under ban of excommunication. Only one other copy extant located in the JNUL. On the history and development of Hebrew printing in Aleppo, see A. Yaari, Dephus Ha’ivri Be’Artzoth Ha’mizrach (1937) pp.31-5, where the the document is reproduced in its entirety