Printers, Readers and Books: Following the Path of the Books from Eliezer Alantansi’s Printing House in Hijar (Spain)

Eliezer ben Alantansi and his business partners established the second printing house with Hebrew letters in Sefarad in Híjar (Spain) by 1482. The press operated until right before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the latest known book was issued in 1490. During its short life, this press produced some of the most important Sephardic incunabula in the world. The aim of this talk is twofold. First, to frame the context in which Alantansi’s press was created, and, second, to reflect on what happened to the books after the expulsion. I will draw a picture of the itinerary of the books through their particular “diaspora” in order to analyze how the provenance notes saved on their pages suggest interesting paths for historical research. Indeed, the marginal notes, ownership inscriptions and even the text of the colophons can turn into a rich source of information for historians, even more so if compared to or corroborated by other archival or documentary sources. The personal information contained in the books printed by Eliezer ben Alantansi’s printing house challenges the historian to set methodological procedures for the analysis of such information and for proposing questions about the people, communities and societies where they were either produced or read. Beyond the study of the book as such (or the text contained in the book), the provenance marks allow for delving into questions related to social history or even the history of mentalities.