Daniel Bomberg

[1] A Christian Hebraist who employed rabbis, scholars and apostates in his Venice publishing house, Bomberg printed the first Mikraot Gdolot (Rabbinic Bible) and the first complete Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, based on the layout pioneered by the Soncino family printers, with the commentaries of Rashi, and of the Tosfot in the margins.

His publishing house printed about 200 Hebrew books, including Siddurim, responsa, codes of law, works of philosophy and ethics and commentaries.

There Daniel met Felix Pratensis (Felice da Prato), an Augustinian friar who had converted from Judaism, and who is said to be the one who encouraged Bomberg to print Hebrew books.

[3] The four volume set included the Hebrew Pentateuch with accompanying commentaries (many of which had never previously been printed), a Targum (Aramaic translation), the haftarot and the Five Megillot.

[15][16] The project was overseen by chief editor Rabbi Chiya Meir b. David, a rosh yeshiva and dayan (judge) on the Venice rabbinical court.

[18] In the early stages of his career he cultivated a positive relationship with the Vatican, and he received approval from Pope Leo X for both the publication of Mikraot Gdolot as well as the Talmud.

By the end of his career, in the late 1540s, fears of censorship and church opposition caused Bomberg to release editions of the Talmud with backdated cover pages.

[24] In 1548 Pope Paul III dispatched his ambassador to censure the venetian Hebrew publications, but Bomberg argued that ancient manuscripts were not to be altered, and successfully resisted papal pressure.

[25] In addition to the Mikraot Gdolot and the Babylonian Talmud, Bomberg's printing house published some two hundred other Hebrew books, many for the first time.

"[3] The title page of a book of Psalms from 1765 – centuries after Bomberg's death – gives testament to the lasting gratitude Jewish communities felt toward him.

"[1] On December 22, 2015, a well-preserved complete copy of the first edition of Bomberg's Babylonian Talmud, formerly contained in the Valmadonna Trust Library, sold at a Sotheby's auction for $9.3 million to Leon Black, a New York businessman who founded Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm.