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were published in the late 
15th century, there was no 
Hebrew word for printing, 
she said. It was described as 
writing “by many pens with-
out miracles.”
As she studied the history 
of Hebrew type, Avadenka 
realized that some of the 
typesetters of old books were 
women and girls. 
Look at the back of many 
recently published books and 
you’ll see a “colophon” with 
facts about the printing itself, 
usually noting the typeface and 
perhaps the type of press used.
In early printed books, col-
ophons gave the name of the 
person who set the type, and 
some of the typesetters of old 
Hebrew and Yiddish books 
were female. Avadenka says 
skilled bibliographers found 
one old Hebrew book that 
had been typeset by Ela, a 
9-year-old girl. 

Avadenka has been using 
Hebrew type in her work for 
years. She owns a set of small 
metal Hebrew type designed 
by Franziska Baruch and cast 
at a foundry in New York 
State. And she has some large 
wooden Hebrew type that 
she bought years ago from a 
printer who was retiring and 
moving to Florida.
She used her older type 
collections to create A Doctrine 
of Handy-Works or Another 
Story of Printing Told in Twelve 
Brief Pages, a series of prints 
about Jewish women, which 
was shown in a solo show 
at the Library of Jewish 
Theological Seminary last 
winter. Avadenka was the first 
contemporary artist to have an 
exhibit in the seminary’s new 
art gallery.
Her works were interspersed 
with rare antique books from 
the JTS collection that had 
been typeset, printed or pub-
lished by women.
Avadenka’s prints juxta-
posed 12 verses from Proverbs 
31, which extols a “woman 
of valor,” with 12 of her own 
short sentences that tell the 
story of a hypothetical Jewish 
woman who is pushed into the 
art and trade of printing. 
Another section of the 

exhibit featured a series of 
prints, resembling Hebrew-
letter mandalas, that Avadenka 
calls “Inventions.”
The type in the Inventions is 
not meant to be read; she aims 
to create beautiful images that 
are conceptually, if not literal-
ly, meaningful, Avadenka said. 
“We look at Japanese, Chinese 
and Islamic letterforms and 
find them beautiful, even if 
they can’t be ‘read,’” she said. 
“I am doing that with Hebrew 
letters.”
Avadenka created Handy 
Works in a limited-edition 
suite of five copies. Four have 
been sold: to the Library 
of Congress, University of 
Michigan, Michigan State 
University and a private 
collector, and a prospective 
purchaser of the final set is 
awaiting funding. 
Avadenka began research-
ing the project in 2019 with 
a research grant from the 
Hadassah Brandeis Institute 
to learn more about women in 
Hebrew printing.
In addition to her studio 
work, Avadenka is the director 
of Signal Return in Detroit, 
a nonprofit arts organization 
dedicated to the teaching and 
preservation of traditional let-
terpress printing. 

BARBARA LEWIS

BARBARA LEWIS

LEFT: Adadenka 
works on a spiral 
press. RIGHT: 
Avadenka’s new 
collection of antique 
wood Hebrew type.

COURTESY OF LYNNE AVADENKA

