Abraham Usque

Who is Abraham Usque?

Abraham ben Salomon Usque was a 16th-century publisher. Usque was born in Portugal to a Jewish family and fled the Portuguese Inquisition for Ferrara, Italy, around 1543.

In Ferrara, Usque worked with Yom-Tob ben Levi Athias, a Spanish typographer. Drawing on various earlier translations, Usque produced a new translation of the Hebrew Bible into Spanish. It was entitled "Biblia en Lengua Española Traducida Palabra por Palabra de la Verdad Hebrayca por Muy Excelentes Letrados, Vista y Examinada por el Oficio de la Inquisicion. Con Privilegio del Ylustrissimo Señor Duque de Ferrara." Usque intended the book for sale both to the Sephardic diaspora and to Christian Spaniards. For this purpose, he submitted a copy to the Inquisition, hoping to receive an imprimatur, and printed some books with a dedication to the Duke of Ferrara. Copies intended for sale to Jews were dedicated to Dona Gracia Nasi. It was published in folio at Ferrara in 1553 and known as the Ferrara Bible. This edition has become scarce, but a second was published in Holland in 1630. In this translation, the Hebrew text is rendered verbatim.