Igereth Shmuel [commentary to the Book of Ruth, with text and Rashi].

DI UCEDA, SAMUEL.

Joseph Ascaloni for Dona Reyna, Duchess of Naxos

Kuru Cesme (Constantinople)

1597

FIRST EDITION. Bookplates of M. Zagajski / A.D. Friedberg. Wider margins.

Vinograd, Const. 314.

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) to establish 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 - and the present work became the first Hebrew book printed in Kuru Cesme. Di Uceda, the author of this commentary, directed a Talmudic Academy in Safed that had been supported by the Nasi Family for decades. In 1597, he journeyed to Constantinople to prevail upon the Duchess to continue financial support. See Pierpont Morgan Library Catalogue, Hebraica from the Valmadonna Trust (1989), no. 49; A.J. Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress (1991), pp. 167-69; and C. Roth, The House of Nasi-The Duke of Naxos (1948), pp. 217-19.