Bologna Guild of Silk Weavers

The Bologna Guild of Silk Weavers were a guild of Jewish silk weavers in Bologna during the 1530s and 1540s.

Hebrew printing activities

Bologna Jewry has had a history of Jewish guild owners, including Abraham Dei Tintori, a dyer who printed the first Hebrew Bible in Bologna in 1482 was offered for sale at Sotheby's in New York. Other important sales included a painted edition of the prayer book on vellum from the Valmadonna Trust Library sale.
Other important works printed by the Guild of Silk Weavers included the books by important Italian rabbis Menahem Recanati and Obadia ben Jacob Sforno, who was a resident in Bologna at the time of the Hebrew printing of his work on religious philosophy.
Another book printed by the Guild of Silk Weavers in 1538 was "Torah or" by Joseph ibn Yaḥya ben David on the subjects of Paradise and Hell, which features the first printed image of the Menorah (Temple); the image is created from small printed words as a Micrographic image. The designer put the Menorah on a pedestal and not a marble base, as is shown on the Arch of Titus.
Hebrew printed books from Bologna are very rare today, especially on the rare book market.