Abraham Ibn Ya‘ish

Abraham ben Joseph Ibn Ya‘ish was among the Jews exiled from Spain in 1492. He found refuge in Constantinople, where he checked the texts of at least two Hebrew books printed by the printing house of David and Samuel Naḥmias. In his colophon to the Pentateuch, haftarot, and five scrolls with commentaries, published in 1505 (the second Hebrew book printed in Turkey and the first printed by the Naḥmias printing house), Ibn Ya‘ish described some of his sufferings following the expulsion from Spain. He also explained why the printing of this work was so important. In addition to the terrible human cost, one result of the expulsion was the destruction or abandonment of many books, resulting in a great dearth of commentaries in particular. Ibn Ya‘ish also proofread the edition of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah published by the printing house four years later, adding a colophon to that text as well.