Soncino family

The Soncino family (Hebrew: משפחת שונצינו, romanized: Mishpokhat Sontsino) is a family of Italian Ashkenazi Jewish printers deriving its name from the town of Soncino, Lombardy in the duchy of Milan. It traces its descent through Moses of Fürth, who is mentioned in 1455, back to Moses of Speyer of the middle of the fourteenth century. The first member of the family to engage in printing was Israel Nathan b. Samuel, the father of Joshua Moses and the grandfather of Gershon. He set up his Hebrew printing press in Soncino in the year 1483, and published his first work, the tractate Berakot, on December 19, 1483. The press underwent considerable changes during its existence. It can be traced at Soncino in 1483-86; Casalmaggiore, 1486; Soncino again, 1488–90; Naples, 1490–92; Brescia, 1491–1494; Barco, 1494–97; Fano, 1503-6; Pesaro, 1507–20 (with intervals at Fano, 1516, and Ortona, 1519); Rimini, 1521-26. Members of the family were at Constantinople between 1530 and 1533, and had a branch establishment in Salonica in 1532-33. Their printer's mark was a tower.

The last of the Soncinos was Gershom b. Eliezer, a grandson of Gershom b. Moses, who established the first printing press in the Middle East in Cairo circa 1557. The mere transfer of their workshop must have had a good deal to do with the development of the printing art among the Jews, both in Italy and in Turkey. While they devoted their main attention to Hebrew books, they also published a considerable number of works in general literature, as well as religious works featuring Christian symbols.

The Soncino prints, though not the earliest, excelled all the others in their perfection of type and their correctness. The Soncino house is also notable for being the location where the first Hebrew Bible was printed. An allusion to the forthcoming publication of this edition was made by the type-setter of the "Sefer HaIkkarim" (1485), who, on page 45, parodied Isa. ii. 3 thus: "Out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Soncino". Abraham b. Hayyim's name appears in the Bible edition as typesetter, and the correctors included Solomon b. Perez Bonfoi ("Mibhar ha-Peninim"), Gabriel Strassburg (Berakot), David b. Elijah Levi and Mordecai b. Reuben Baselea (Hullin), and Eliezer b. Samuel ("Yad").