An incunabulum often stands as the crowning jewel of any collection fortunate enough to possess one. Incunabula, the plural form of the Latin term incunabulum (meaning “cradle”), has evolved in the realm of bibliophiles to designate books that were printed using movable type up until the year 1500. Although more than 30,000 incunabula titles are documented, a mere 3-400 Hebrew editions are known to have existed, rendering them extraordinarily rare. Recently, I had the privilege of acquiring one such treasure – one of significant historical importance – being the inaugural Hebrew printing of the Neviim Rishonim (Former Prophets), printed alongside Radak (David Kimchi)’s renowned commentary.
This inaugural printed Hebrew edition of the Prophets, with Kimhi’s scholarly annotations, was produced in 1485 by the esteemed Joshua Solomon ben Israel Nathan Soncino. This edition, which predates the Soncino family’s migration to Casal Maggiore, marked the completion of the family’s premier Biblical publication. The text was printed in double columns, adorned with woodcut initials, headpieces, and lavish historiated decorations – floral motifs embellishing the opening word of each Biblical book.
Soncino, the progenitor of the illustrious Soncino printing dynasty, hailed from Speyer along the Rhine before establishing himself in Soncino, Lombardy, in the early fifteenth century. His commercial sagacity is underscored by his astute choice to print the Former Prophets as one of his first works, at a time when no complete Hebrew Bible had been made available in print. Prior to this groundbreaking edition, only the Pentateuch (Bologna, 1482), the Book of Psalms (Italy, 1477), and the Five Scrolls (Bologna, 1482) had been printed. Soncino swiftly followed this seminal publication with an edition of the Latter Prophets within the same year.
The text is accompanied by the commentary of R. David Kimchi (ca. 1160–1235), a figure who championed rigorous scientific philological analysis in contrast to the homiletical approaches commonly prevalent during his era. Although Kimchi often drew from rabbinic literature, he was distinguished by his differentiation between peshat (the plain or literal meaning of a text) and derashot (homiletical interpretations). His commentary is celebrated for its lucidity and accessibility, setting it apart from the more terse and enigmatic exegeses of his predecessors.
This edition is also notable for its colophon, which provides fascinating insight into the meticulous proofreading process and the printers’ awareness of potential errors. The colophon at the close of the volume reads, “Edited and perfected by bibliophiles and those proficient in the sciences. It is unlikely that any error will be found, particularly in terms of a word or meaning. However, it is possible that letters may have been interchanged during the process… A book without any errors would indeed be a miraculous feat.” In subsequent printings by the Soncino press, they acknowledged that each volume underwent three stages of proofreading before being finalized. In the colophon of their 1587 Napoli edition of Tehillim, they noted, “We are novices in this process, as our forebears could not have foreseen the advent of printing. As is well known, all new ventures present challenges, and time did not permit us to oversee it with the requisite scrutiny. Furthermore, we were unable to procure sufficiently precise manuscripts.”
In the 1567 edition of the Yalkut Shimoni, the printers subtly absolve themselves of any responsibility for potential errors. In the colophon, it is stated: “There is no righteous person capable of printing without fault. Even more so, considering that the work is performed by non-Jews, and that the press operates on Shabbat without any Jewish oversight.”
