1577 The First Printing Press in the Middle East – Safed

The well-known Hebrew printer Eliezer B. Isaac Ashkenazi and his son Isaac of Prague, left Lublin for Eretz Israel, taking with them their printing tools, type, and decorations. After three years in Constantinople, where they printed some books, they proceeded to Safed. There they set up as printers in partnership with Abraham b Isaac Ashkenazi, a resident of Safed who provided the funds necessary for the enterprise. Between 1577 and 1580 they issued three books. Then Abraham left for Yemen as an emissary of the Tiberias Yeshiva, selling his books at the same time. In 1587 Eliezer printed three more books; like the first three, they were all by Safed authors.

Source: Michael Avi-Yonah