communities those in authority were asked for help, Moses Isserles (1525-1572) among them. He ruled that the first publisher of a work can stop another from reproducing the same book or selling it until the initial edition was entirely sold.(Responsa,# 10). This reponsum is of special interest as both publishers were non-Jews , so[sserles sought to be effective by prohibiting Jews from purchasing the books of the second publisher. As the publisher, not the author faced risks, protection was invoked for him, not the author. Some printers also protected themselves through subscriptions paid in advance’
The problems raised by the new technologies of the 15th century led to limited rethinking of the traditional Jewish view of unrestricted publication rights of books new and old. On the one hand obstacles to republication were removed; however, the need for protecting the investment of the publisher at least for a limited time was recognized. The aim was a balance between a monopoly and absolute freedom. The goal was a wider distribution of all works both old and new.
These thoughts modified the major pattern of the Jewish tradition; these thinkers now began to understand intellectual creations akin to physical property and its history of protection. A limited group of authorities took this road; they understood the need to spread ideas, but also the importance of assisting the author with his livelihood and the publisher with his expenses.
These rabbinic authorities provided protection for printed works through an official haskamah, the earliest to survive was written for Jacob Landau ’s Agur(1487, Naples) and signed by seven rabbis. Another haskamah to Elijah Levitas’ Ha-Bachur(Rome, 1519) is similar in style though signed by only one rabbi. All were printed at the end of the book in the years before title pages were introduced. These approbations provided protection and also attested to the correctness of the printed text, that it had been properly type-sel; necessary as this may have been done by journeymen who did not