Purim by the Book: First Prints of the Medieval Parodies for Purim and the Invention of the Purim Anthology

This article focuses on the first known printed edition of parodic texts for Purim and the influence of the printing press on the reception history of medieval Purim parodic literature. This booklet, printed in Pesaro by Gershom Soncino in 1513, included three different texts: two parodies of the Talmud (Gersonides' Megillat Setarim and Kalonymos ben Kalonymos' Massekhet Purim), followed by the comic poem Kikhlot Yeini, attributed to Shlomo ibn Gabirol. In the same year Soncino printed another parodic piece written by Gersonides, titled Sefer Habakbuk. These texts, which had not appeared together in manuscripts produced before Soncino's edition, appear side by side in nearly all known manuscripts and printed works produced after it. This paper examines the diverse contents and contexts of each of the texts in Soncino's booklet and, by revealing each text's particularity, emphasizes the impact that its inclusion in Soncino's printed version had on its transmission history.