Soncino family (printers)

Soncino (i משפחת שונצינו ) is the name of a Jewish printer Dynasty.

More than a third of all incunabula preserved in the Hebrew language come from printing the Soncino.

About five generations and three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa), the Soncino produced Hebrew books. They played a significant role in the European and especially the Jewish cultural history of the 15th and 16th centuries. Your products are distinguished by both philological reliability of the contents, as well as by the quality of typography, materials, illustration and decor. In addition to Hebrew texts come from the Soncino printing incunabula and early printed books in Greek, Latin and Italian.

Origin

The traces of the family date back to Speyer. In documents from Fürth in southern Germany, a certain Moses of Speyer or Moses de Spira is mentioned. The first of the family, which is called as the printer name, Israel is Nathan Ben Samuel, father of Joshua Moses and grandfather of the famous family member Gershon Soncino.

The Soncino family derive their name from the small Italian town of Soncino in the former duchy of Milan, had set up in the Gershon Soncino a Offizin.