Select Page

Heide Warncke MA

PhD candidate

E-mail: h.warncke@uva.nl

Area(s) of interest: Dutch History, History of Books, Languages & Literature, Migration History & Diaspora

Cohort/Start PhD: 2020-2021

The Amsterdam Hebrew Printing Industry 1627-1815: The impact of intellectual, economic and religious developments on Hebrew Printing
University of Amsterdam
Supervisor(s): Prof. Emile Schrijver/ Prof. Paul Hoftijzer (Universiteit Leiden)

The dissertation will give an insight into the history of Hebrew printing in Amsterdam and explore the impact that intellectual, economic and religious developments had on this history. The research will cover the period 1627-1815. Special emphasis will be put on identifying and analysing the networks that Hebrew book printers in Amsterdam had and how the presence or absence of networks influenced the field of Hebrew printing in this timespan. One objective of the dissertation is to examine if the book printers worked autonomously or responded to the demand of the market, the wishes of a sponsor or the restrictions on printing by the governors of the boards of Jewish congregations. Another objective is to get a clearer picture of the interaction between book printer, craftsmen, book trade and market. The aim is to map who the major players were and how this network functioned under different circumstances. The expectation is that this analysis will lead to a deeper understanding of the considerations and obstacles that a printer of Hebrew books had to face and the strategic choices made to bring a book to the presses.