David de Castro Tartas

David de Castro Tartas was a Jewish printer active in Amsterdam. He was born in Tartas, southern France. His family came to Tartas after leaving Portugal, and in 1640 the family moved to Amsterdam.

At first David worked for another printer, Manasseh Ben Israel, but in 1662 he set up his own press. His press printed about 70 works in Hebrew and Yiddish and over 40 works in Spanish and Portuguese. He was also the publisher of the “Gazeta de Amsterdam” (from 1672 onward), the earliest known newspaper in Spanish published by a Jewish printer, mainly intended for the Marrano diaspora, and which dealt particularly with mercantile news. The newspaper was also published in Italian version. From 1687 he took over the publishing of the “Amsterdam Yiddish Dinstogishe” and “Fraytogishe Kurantn”. In 1697 David sold his press to Moses b. Abraham Mendes Coutinho and left Amsterdam for Palestine or Hamburg.