Jeremy Norman’sHistoryofInformation.com Exploring the History of Information and Media through Timelines
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A: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia, B: Safed, North District, Israel
The first book printed in Israel was Lekah Tov, a commentary on the Book of Esther by Yom Tov, Zahalon. The colophon includes a woodcut of the Holy Temple—a copy of the printer's mark used by Marco Giustiniani in Venice 1545-52—with the legend "Great will be the glory of this house...Saith the Lord of Hosts" (Haggai, 2:9). The colophon states that the volume was completed on the fourth day of Tishri 5338 (1577).
Eliezer ben Isaac Ashkenazi, an itinerant printer from Prague, settled in Safad (Safed) (now northern Israel). The first book that he issued there in 1577 was Lekah Tov, a Hebrew commentary on the Book of Esther, by Yom Tov Zahalon. This was the first book printed in the Middle East. In his introduction Zahalon expressed his delight in the founding of a press in this Holy City of the Holy Land and urged authors to have their works printed there; however the press issued only six books.