[INDOLOGY] Nirnaya Sagar Press and hebrew

[Herman Tull]

Also, the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews
promoted the publication of the New Testament and catechisms in Hebrew.
Although I've not seen a copy, there are references to a Hebrew text of
"The Gospel of St Matthew for the Use of Jews in Asia" said to have been
"printed with the first Hebrew type ever cast in India ... Madras, de novo
imprimebat J. Fanderlinden, Commercial Press, 1817"

*Herman Tull, PhD*
*Princeton, NJ*


On Mon, May 12, 2025 at 7:42 PM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear Matthew,
>
> Your link leads to "Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, and Marathi Jewish Printing in
> India Online",
> https://primarysources.brillonline.com/browse/hebrew-printing-in-india
> the background tab of which leads to "Printing in India, and the
> Introduction of Hebrew Type" . I had no idea of the volume!
>
> Searching on "Nirnaya Sagar"
> https://primarysources.brillonline.com/search?search-go=&q=nirnaya+sagar&sort=true&fq=collection%3A%22hebrew-printing-in-india%22
>
> shows 6 hebrew and judaic related books published at Nirnaya Sagar press
> between 1887 and 1906.
>
> Fascinating and thank you.
>
> Harry Spier
>
>
> On Mon, May 12, 2025 at 6:13 PM Matthew Kapstein <mattkapstein at proton.me>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Harry,
>>
>> The Valmadonna Collection is where I would look for this. Here are some
>> basic search results,
>>
>>
>> https://www.google.com/search?q=valmadonna+collection+india&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-fr&client=safari
>>
>> But you’ll have to dig deeper to gain access. In any case, it’s certainly
>> one of the besr, perhaps the best collection, of Hebrew printing from
>> India.
>>
>> good luck, בהצלחה
>> Matthew
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 12, 2025 at 14:58, Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info
>> <On+Mon,+May+12,+2025+at+14:58,+Harry+Spier+via+INDOLOGY+%3C%3Ca+href=>>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear list members,
>>
>> First thank you to Madhav,Deshpande, Birgit Kellner, Phillip Maas and
>> Andrew Ollett for the indian printer and devanagari references.  Madhav has
>> confirmed off-list that देवनागरी मुद्राक्षरलेखनकला is a Marathi version by
>> Naik of his "Typography of Devanagari".
>>
>> In the reference Madhav gave for the history of Nirnaya Sagar Press
>>
>> https://archive.org/details/NirnayaSagarACenturyOfTypeCastingPrintingAndPublishingVinayakYKulkarni
>>
>> it says about the founder Jawaji Dadaji that he cast 7 varieties of types
>> for Vedic Sanskrit, 20 of Devanagari, 15 of Gurajarati, * two of Hebrew *and
>> one of Kannada. It also includes this printed page of hebrew  (presumably
>> from Nirnaya Sagar Press) copied below.  From the little hebrew I remember
>> from over half a century ago, it appears to some kind of sample page with
>> each line repeated. With the first occurance without vowel markers (the
>> usual way of writing hebrew) immediately followed by the same line with
>> vowel markers (how you write hebrew for beginners).  The larger type is a
>> line from one of the psalms followed by Genesis 1:3  with I think a
>> spelling error.
>>
>> Does anyone know the story of this hebrew type cast by Nirnaya Sagar
>> Press? Did Nirnaya Sagar Press print a book or books for a Jewish community
>> in India?
>>
>> [image: image.png]
>> Thanks,
>> Harry Spier
>>
>>
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