Davin (David) de Caderousse

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DAVIN (David) DE CADEROUSSE

DAVIN (David ) DE CADEROUSSE (15th century), the first known Jew to attempt Hebrew *printing. While living in Avignon as a dyer, Davin de Caderousse met a Christian goldsmith from Prague named Procop Waldvogel. In 1446 the two entered into a notarial contract, Davin undertaking to teach the other the art of dyeing and Procop promising in return to provide him with the 27 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, cut in iron, and with the necessary instruments, in accordance with the "science and practise of writing," which he had been teaching him since 1444. The arrangement ultimately broke down, and no specimen of this earliest Hebrew printing press has survived.

bibliography:

P. Requin, Origines de l'imprimerie en France (1891); C. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance (1959), 167–8.

[Cecil Roth]

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