Jacob Chemla

Chemla translated multiple titles into Hebrew and Judeo-Tunisian Arabic, including The Jews of Spain at the Time of the Inquisition and The Count of Monte Cristo, which he originally released as a serial and later in full during the 1880s.

His father Haïm Chemla was named by the Bey during the 1860s as the tax collector for the Artisans of Tunis (who would often pay in kind with donations of pottery).

[2] In the Interwar period, production was moved to French Algeria and the United States, and the company presented at expositions in 1925, 1931 and 1937.

Chemla's ceramic tiles decorated the homes of the rich in Tunis, Sidi Bou Said and La Marsa.

In the 1960s, President of Tunisia Habib Bourguiba contracted the company to install ceramic panels at Carthage Palace.

First page of Chemla's translation of The Count of Monte Cristo in Judeo-Tunisian Arabic
Jacob Chemla's tiles in Santa Barbara (CA) courthouse