| Notas |
- Joseph b. Abraham Athias:
His Printing-Press.
Printer and publisher; born in Spain, probably at Cordova, at the beginning of the seventeenth century; died at Amsterdam, May 12, 1700. When very young he was sent by his father to Hamburg in order to receive a Jewish education. Somewhat before 1658 he seems to have gone to Amsterdam, where he established himself as a printer and publisher; for in the following year there was issued from his press "Tikkun Sefer Torah" (Order of the Book of the Law), with an introductory poem by Solomon de Oliveyra. During the next two years he was engaged on his well-known edition of the Bible, the proof-reading for which was entrusted to John Leusden, professor at Leyden. As Steinschneider says, the admirable mechanical execution of the edition entitles it to rank among the most beautiful specimens of Hebrew presswork; and it won for Athias so great a reputation that he was thereupon taken into the Printers' Gild (March 31, 1661).
Printer's Mark of Joseph Athias.Other works published by Athias were: Pentateuch, with Megillot and Haf?arot, 1665; the Psalms, with a Dutch translation (proof-reader J. Leusden), 1666-67; the second edition of his Bible, 1677, more carefully prepared than the first, and with still more beautiful type and decorations. For this edition the States General of the Netherlands awarded him a gold medal and chain worth 600 Dutch florins. On the title-page is a cut of the medal. This edition gave occasion for a small broadside by Athias, entitled "C?cus de Coloribus, contra Reprehensiones Sam. Maresii de ed. Bibl." Amsterdam, 1669. Athias published also "En Ya'a?ob" (1684-85), as well as prayer-books and liturgies according to the Portuguese and German rituals.
Athias' printing-establishment was one of the best equipped in Amsterdam. His wealth enabled him to lavish money on the cutting and casting of type, and to demand artistic work of his designers and die-sinkers. The edition of Maimonides' Yad ha-?aza?ah, with "Le?em Mishneh," 5 vols., Amsterdam, 1702-3, begun by Athias and completed after his death by his son Emanuel, is, as Steinschneider says, one of the most elegant and most admired products of the Hebrew press. At the end of the work the fact is mentioned that on July 9, 1667, Athias' father was burned as a Marano at an auto da fé at Cordova. The molds and letters used by Athias came into the possession of the printing-house of Proops.
Judæo-German Bible.
One ugly feature in Athias' business career was the circumstance connected with a Judæo-German edition of the Bible. The printer Uri Ph?bus, grandson of Moses Uri Levi, the first Sephardic rabbi at Amsterdam, employed a certain Jekutiel Blitz to write a Judæo-German translation of the Bible; and, before he began to print it, he obtained from the Polish Council of the Four Lands the privilege that for ten years all reprints were to be prohibited and laid under ban (Nisan, 1671). The rabbis of the Portuguese and German congregations of Amsterdam and elsewhere confirmed this privilege. Ph?bus, whose entire fortune was risked in the undertaking, felt himself under the necessity oftaking two Christian partners, the alderman Wilhelm Blau and the jurist Laurens Ball. Through their influence he obtained from John III. Sobieski of Poland the further privilege that this Judæo-German translation was to have copyright in Poland for twenty years (Oct., 1677). The work was not completed, when one of his compositors, impelled by envy, robbed him of the fruits of his labor. This compositor, Josel (Joseph) Witzenhausen, himself made a translation for which he secured Athias as printer and publisher. Athias through his wealth possessed certain advantages over his rival, and was also able to obtain privileges for his translation from Holland and Zealand, and even succeeded, through a Jewish agent of the Polish crown in Holland, Simon by name, in gaining still more favorable protection from the Council of the Four Lands (Jaroslaw, Sept. 21, 1677; Lublin, April 27, 1678). Although Witzenhausen was warned not to compete with Ph?bus and Blitz (Oct. 13, 1676), neither he nor Athias paid any attention to the injunction, and they began to print as early as Dec. 5, 1678. The edition of Ph?bus appeared at Amsterdam in 1678; that of Athias, in its complete form in 1679. The latter contained a Latin preface dedicated to the Great Elector, in which Athias praises the condition of the Jews in Prussia.
A justification for Athias' conduct was claimed in the fact that ten years had elapsed between the first and second approbations given by the Council of the Four Lands. Whether Meyer Stern, first at Frankfort-on-the Main, then chief rabbi of the German community at Amsterdam, was proof-reader for Athias' edition as well as for that of Ph?bus, and whether he thus lent his countenance to the unjustifiable wrong done to the latter, is uncertain, despite Witzenhausen's mention of him as proof-reader for Athias. The matter has been so fancifully discussed, and so much that has been written concerning it is such pure invention, that nothing can now be accurately determined. The literature on the affair is now rare, having consisted mainly of loose leaflets and broadsides.
Bibliography:
Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebr?a, iii. 944;
Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. Nos. 5886, 7828;
Kayserling, Bibl. Españ-Portug.-Jud. p. 14;
Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d ed., x. 244, 299;
T. Tal, in Woord en Beeld, Sept., 1897, pp. 316 et seq.;
Jaarboeken voor de Israëliten, 1835, iv. 29;
Koenen, Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland, p. 326.
- Joseph Athias
Born in Spain, probably in Cordova, at the beginning of the seventeenth century; died at Amsterdam, May 12, 1700. In 1661 and 1667 he issued two editions of the Hebrew Bible . Though carefully printed, they contain a number of mistakes in the vowel points and the accents. But as they were based on the earlier editions compared with the best manuscripts, they were the foundation of all the subsequent editions. The copious marginal notes added by Jean de Leusden, professor at Utrecht, are of little value. The 1667 edition was bitterly attacked by the Protestant savant, Samuel Desmarets-Sorlin ; Athias answered the charges in a work whose title begins: "Caecus de coloribus". He published, also, some other works of importance, such as the "Tikkun Sepher Torah", or the "Order of the Book of the Law", and a Judeo-German translation of the Bible . The latter involved Athias in a competition with Uri Phoebus, a question that has been discussed but cannot be fully cleared up at this late date.
- Joseph ben Abraham Athias
Joseph ben Abraham Athias (born c. 1635 in Córdoba, Andalusia; died May 12th, 1700, in Amsterdam, due to pest) was a Sephardic rabbi of the Athias gens.
He acted as a book printer from 1658 when he came from Hamburg ? where his father Abraham Athias had sent him to in order that Joseph Athias received a Jewish education and where Joseph Athias taught the Talmud later ? to Amsterdam and bought a printing office.[1] ?Athias? printing-establishment was one of the best-equipped in Amsterdam. His wealth enabled him to lavish money on the cutting and casting of type and to demand artistic work of his designers and die-sinkers.?[2]
The best-known publication of him is his Hebrew Bible, Amsterdam 1661 (2nd printing 1667), whose second edition (Biblia hebraica correcta a curiosis Judaeis; imprimis a Josepho Athias secundum praestantissimas editiones et antiquissima manuscripta, cum praefatione latina Joannis Leusden, editio praeclarissima, ab omnibus tamen mendis non immunis) Johann Leusden prefaced and commented with margin notes. ?The edition was completed with the Assistance of the Rabbins of the synagogue of Amsterdam, and without the interference of any Christian whatever: but when it was ready for sale, the Jew, thinking it would be convenient to have Christians also for his customers, applied to the celebrated Leusden to describe the merits of the edition in a Latin preface; which were already described in a Hebrew preface for the information of Jews.?[3]
However, it is the first with Arabic cyphers enumerated Hebrew Bible and the second edition became the basis for many later Hebrew Bible editions because of the careful choice of text of the Hebrew bible?s best manuscripts and that enumeration. Because of his Hebrew Bible?s second edition?s deemed accuracy and pulchritude Joseph Athias got a gold chain and medal by the States-General of the Netherlands on June 10th, 1667,[4] and already because of the the first edition?s pulchritude Athias was taken into the Printers? Gild on March 31st, 1661.[2]
The second edition was corrected in comparision to the first edition, but still criticized due to flawed vocalization and accent setting, some do not see any amelioration at all, even a worsening: ?The second edition which Athias printed in 1667, is neither so fine nor so correct as the former; it has only this peculiarity, that Leusden has burthen?d and clogg?d the Margins with Notes, or little Latin Summaries of very little use to those who understand Hebrew, and of no use to them that understand it not.?[5] Nevertheless Athias? and Leusden?s Hebrew Bible, in the 3rd edition made by Everardus van der Hooght after both had deceased and could thus not publish the 3rd edition, has been the fundament of the greater part of all Hebrew Bible until the mid-19th century. The third edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica in eighteen volumes remarks: ?Of all the editions of the Hebrew Bible in 8vo, the most beautiful and correct are the two of Jo. Athias, a Jew of Amsterdam. The first, of 1661, is the best paper; but that of 1667 is the most exact: that, however, published since at Amsterdam by Vander Hooght, in 1705, is preferable to any of them.?[6]
Joseph Athias printed also translations of the Hebrew Bible in Castilian, English and Yiddish[7]. The Yiddish version, which he began to print on December 5th, 1678, and sold anew in 1687 under a new title page, Joseph Athias let rabbi Joseph Josel ben Aaron Alexander (or shortly Josel Witzenhausen oder Joseph Witzenhausen) translate, chief rabbi in Hesse, and rabbi Schabtai ben Joseph proof-read and probably[2] rabbi Meir Stern, chief rabbi in Amsterdam. The material for the translation was for a printing by Uri Shraga Phoebus (or Uri Fayvish) and translation by Yekutiel Blitz, to which Josel Witzenhausen contributed to and which this had stolen later to make his own translation.[8][2] Through his influence, Joseph ben Abraham Athias snatched protection in Holland and Zeeland and by the Council of Four Lands in Poland.[2]
People who worked for Joseph Athias also include the Jews Gumpel Mordechai ben Jehuda Leb Polak in 1660 and Jacob ben Abraham Rodriguez Guadeloupe in 1667.[9]
Joseph Athias? printing business was succeeded by his son Immanuel Athias who led the printing office till 1707. He took over the Hebrew section of the printing house already in 1685, letting his father concentrate on other activities. After Immanuel Athias? demise in the year 1707, Solomon ben Joseph Proops bought the printing office.
Joseph Athias? father Abraham Athias, a Marrano Jew, was burnt at the stake together with the Marranos Jacob Rodríguez Cáceres and Raquel Nuñez Fernández on July 9th, 1667, in Córdoba by the Spanish Inquisition.[10] After their deaths the Jews were and are aggrandized as ?martyrs? and ?holy?. For instance, Sephardic Jew Miguel de Barrios, who authored a number of plays to glamorize burnt Marrano Jews, wrote his so-called ?comedy? Contra la verdad no hay fuerça to heroicize them.[11]
References
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1.? Hannah Adams: The history of the Jews, from the destruction of Jerusalem to the present time. Printed by A. Macintosh, London 1818, page 375
2.? 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Isidore Singer (ed.): The Jewish Encyclopedia. A descriptive record of the history, religion, literature and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day. Volume II. Funk and Wagnalls Company, New York and London 1902, pages 268?269
3.? The Intellectual repository for the New Church signified, in the Revelation, Chap. XXI. by the New Jerusalem; designed for the promotion of divine, spiritual and rational knowledge. New Series, Volume 1. (For the years 1824 and 1825.) Printed and published by J.?S. Hodson, London 1825, page 147
4.? Salomon Ephraim Blogg (ed.): ????? ???? Aedificium Salomonis, ????? ?????? ?????? ???? enthaltend: eine vollständige Geschichte der hebräischen Sprache, des Thalmuds und vieler merkwürdiger Begebenheiten des Alterthums, die bis dahin gänzlich unbekannt geblieben; nebst einen Anhange die Targumen betreffend, und die Biographieen der größten Gelehrten aller Confessionen, die sich um die hebräische Sprache und den Thalmud verdient gemacht haben. Herausgegeben von Salomon Ephraim Blogg. Printed at the Royal Court Printing Office by Ernst August Telgener, Hannover 1831, page 110
5.? The History of the Works of the Learned. Or, An Impartical Account of Books Lately Printed in all parts of Europe. With a particular Relation of the State of Learning In each Country. For the Month of January, 1707. Done by several Hands. Volume IX. London 1707, page 392
6.? Colin Macfarquhar (ed.), George Gleig (ed.): Encyclopædia Britannica: or, A dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature; constructed on a plan, by which the different sciences and arts are digested into the form of distinct treatises or systems, comprehending the history, theory, and practice, of each, according to the latest discoveries and improvements; and full explanations given of the various detached parts of knowledge, whether relating to natural and artificial objects, or to matters ecclesiastical, civil, military, commercial &c. Including elucidations of the most important topics relative to religion, morals, manners and the oeconomy of life: together with a description of all the countries, cities, principal mountains, seas, rivers, &c. throughout the world; a general history, ancient and modern, of the different empires, kingdoms, and states; and an account of the lives of the most eminent persons in every nation, from the earliest ages down to the present times. The third edition, in eighteen volumes, greatly improved. Illustrated with five hundred and forty-two copperplates. Vol. III. Edinburgh 1797, page 214
7.? The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Volume III. Charles Knight, London 1835, page 20
8.? James Townley: Illustrations of biblical literature, exhibiting the history and faith of the Sacred Writings, from the earliest period to the present century, including biographical notices of translators, and other eminent biblical scholars. Volume III. Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London 1821, page 415
9.? Johann Gottfried Gruber (ed.): Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste in alphabetischer Reihenfolge von genannten Schriftstellern bearbeitet und herausgegeben von J.?S. Ersch und J.?G. Gruber. Mit Kupfern und Charten. Zweite Section. H-N. Achtundzwanzigster Theil. F.?A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1851, pages 66?67
10.? Leopold Zunz: Die Monatstage des Kalenderjahres, ein Andenken an Hingeschiedene. Verlag von M. Poppelauer?s Buchhandlung, Berlin 1872, pages 38?39
11.? Meyer Kayserling: Sephardim. Romanische Poesien der Juden in Spanien. Ein Beitrag zur Literatur und Geschichte der spanisch-portugiesischen Juden. Herman Mendelssohn, Leipzig 1859, pages 263?264
- De https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org:
The most distinguished edition of the Mishneh Torah is the Athias edition, planned and launched by Joseph Athias in 1698 and completed by his son Immanuel in 1702. The father was born in Cordova, Spain, in 1635, just five hundred years after the birth of Maimonides there, and like him he had to flee persecution as a teenager. This edition, which set standards for devotion to accuracy and aesthetics in Hebrew bookmaking rarely equaled, has one more distinguishing characteristic-a colophon of historic significance. it records, as we can read in the illustration, that the father and grandfather of the publishers was burned at the stake in the city of Cordova, "for the sanctification of God's name," thirty-five years before the date of publication (Moses Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Amsterdam, 1702.
- Nieuwe Herengracht 103 – Joseph Athias
En 1685, el impresor judío Joseph Athias y su esposa hicieron construir esta casa. Fueron uno de los impresores que contribuyeron a la fama de Ámsterdam como ciudad de la imprenta. Los libros judíos (ilustración opuesta) se publicaron en hebreo, español, portugués y yiddish. Y a estas imprentas también se les permitió imprimir Biblias en inglés. A pesar de su fama, a este impresor no le iba bien en los negocios e incluso se vio obligado a esconderse a causa de sus deudas. (En un sitio de subastas encontré una Biblia impresa por Athias por $5,500 en 2007). Finalmente, en 1734, la propiedad pasó a manos del empresario Aron de Joseph de Pinto, primo de David de Pinto en la Sint Anthoniebreestraat.
Remodeló la propiedad en 1751. Sus hijos vendieron la casa en 1787 al financiero y tabacalero Benjamin Cohen. Cohen es el hombre que en 1785 proporciona refugio en su casa de Amersfoort al Stadholder Willem V y a su esposa Wilhelmina, que habían sido expulsados por los patriotas. Desde 1790, Jonas Daniël Meijer , el primer abogado judío admitido en el colegio de abogados, vivía en este edificio con su madre, Marianne Cohen.
En 1813, la propiedad se vende al comerciante de diamantes Elkan Jacob Levie de Vries.
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1635 - 1700 (65 años)
Isabella Duarte y de Pas, n. 1634, Amsterdam, Paises Bajos 
