Abraham Monsohn

Born in Jerusalem to an Ashkenazic family that had come to Ottoman Palestine, Abraham Leib Monsohn traveled to Frankfurt in 1890 to study lithography. Along with his brother Moshe Mordechai, Monsohn founded a lithographic press in the Old City of Jerusalem after returning from Germany. The A. L. Monsohn Press became among the most prominent presses in Palestine, printing military maps for Ottoman authorities as well as all manner of material for regional businesses and other institutions. Monsohn was the first printer in Palestine to use this type of stone color lithography. This mizraḥ (an ornamental wall plaque used to indicate the direction of Jerusalem) includes a map of the Land of Israel surrounded by sacred sites and vistas. These elaborate mizraḥ sheets were often published on behalf of charitable institutions and sold as souvenirs or given as thanks to donors.