#history
First Hebrew book printed in Cochin.
Cochin has a long history of the Jews, dating back thousands of years.
However the first book in Hebrew was printed in Cochin only in the late 19th century .
The Title of the book was
(English): Seder Minhat Simhat Torah .
Title (Hebrew): סדר מנחת שמחת תורה
The Publisher was Yacov Daniel Cohen and the book was published in 1877.
The first Hebrew printing press in India was founded in Calcutta, 1840 by Eleazar b. Aaron Saadiah ʿIrāqī ha-Cohen, a native of Cochin, and the press existed until 1856.
Cohen was a scholar and poet, and was an expert printer who probably cast his own letters.
The products of his press, some of them his own writings, are comparable with the best European productions of the time.
The Founder of the Hebrew printing press “The Lebanon Printing Press”, in Bombay, was Rabbi Yehuda David Ashkenazi who was also from Cochin.
The other press in Cochin producing Jewish books, was owned by Eliya Ben Eliyahu aka Poomala Elias. His press was active till the 1960s.
( Historical Society of Cochin).
