Znane i nieznane sygnety drukarzy żydowskich używane w Lublinie w XVI i XVII wieku
Known and Unknown Jewish Printers’ Devices Used in Lublin in the 16th and 17th Century

Summary/Abstract: Printers’ devices can be found in books published by five Jewish printers active in Lublin in the 16th and 17th centuries, who only used them, however, in a small proportion of their prints. Several graphic motifs were used: a unicorn, a Jerusalem shrine (impressed from two different woodcut blocks), fish – either alone on accompanied by the figure of a deer, and man by a well (in two variants). The lion standing on two hind legs should be regarded as a printing embellishment that does not serve as a printer’s device. The least known devices included the earliest mark presenting a leaning against a unicorn, first impressed by Eliezer ben Itzhak of Prague in 1572. One device that received hardly any attention so far was produced by Tzvi ben Avraham Kalonimos Jafe in 1616, featuring a couple of fish, which is clearly an early version if the well known device with fish and a deer. The devices were typically impressed with separate blocks, and just one was a part of a border adorning the title page. None of the devices used the coat of arms of Lublin to indicate where the printing shop operated. All of them are anonymous works. Two signs, presenting fish and a deer and a man by a well, are accompanied by Hebrew initials of the printers.

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