Hebrew Incunabula

Hebrew incunabula are works printed in Hebrew in the 15th century.

Only about 100 incunabula are determined to have been definitively printed before 1500. There are eight of which either no copy is known, or the time and place of publication can not be definitely determined. Currently, more than 100 incunabula have been discovered since an article was first written about the topic in the Jewish Encyclopedia in 1901.

The total number of identified Hebrew incunabula is about 175, though more may exist or have existed. A list of ascertained incunabula is given in tabular form on pp. 578 and 579 of the 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia article, and to these may be added the last-mentioned eight, which include the Talmud tractates Ketubot, Giṭṭin, and Baba Meẓi'a, each printed separately by Joshua Soncino in 1488-89, and of which no copy is known to exist. The same fate has met all the copies of the Leiria edition of the Early Prophets (1494). There is also a siddur of the Roman rite, probably published by one of the Soncinos, and, from its type, likely to be of the fifteenth century. This was first described by Berliner ("Aus Meiner Bibliothek," p. 58); a copy is possessed by E. N. Adler of London, and an incomplete copy is in the library of Frankfort-on-the-Main. In addition, there are two editions of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, one possibly printed in Italy in the fifteenth century, a copy of which is in the library of the Vienna community; the other, parts of which Dr. E. Mittwoch of Berlin possesses, was probably printed in Spain.