Izaak Aaronowicz

Izaak Aaronowicz, born Izaak ben Aron Prostitz, was a Polish author and printer of Hebrew books. Izaak was born in Prossnitz, Moravia, and has learned printing trade in Italy in Venice. Izaak imported printing equipment from Italy and set his printing press in Cracow where he started printing from 1569. At first he was issued printing privilege in 1567 by King Sigmund August II of Poland for 50 years, but he and his family were able to print for nearly 60 years. His press printed some 200 works of which 73 were in Yiddish. The books were from various fields: rabbinics, Bible, Kabbalah, philosophy, history, and mathematics. He also cooperated with some of the great scholars of the time: Moses Isserles of Cracow, Solomon Luria of Lublin, and Mordecai Jaffe of Prague and Poznan. In 1602 Izaak returned to Prossnitz, where he printed until 1605, while his son Aaron remained active in Cracow.