The use of the printer's mark is almost as old as the art of printing. Among the printers of Hebrew books in the fifteenth century, we know only one who made use of such a device, Eliezer Alantansi in Hijar, 1485-90. His mark is a lion rampant on a shield.

In his first publication, the Tur Orah Hayyim (1485), it is framed in red; in his second book, the Tur Yoreh Deah (1487), the frame is black; in his third book, the undated Pentateuch [1487-88], the lion appears without a frame.The designer and cutter is probably Alfonso Fernandez de Cordoba, who, no doubt, created the beautiful types and ornaments for Alantansi's books.

Today, de Cordoba's lion graces the bookplates found in the libraries of HUC-JIR. It is also used as a logo for Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, a publication of the HUC-JIR libraries.

Adapted from Moses Marx, "Regarding the Printer's Mark on the Cover,"Studies in Bibliography and Booklore Vol. 1, no. 1, p. 52.