Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic, had long been a center of Hebrew printing by the time this prayer book for the Jewish High Holidays was produced. It was printed by Giorgio de’ Cavalli, a Christian publisher of patrician background active in Venice from 1565–1567. The charming elephant within the decorative cartouche that graces the title-page of most of his books was also his family’s device; the Latin motto “Tarde sed tuto” means “slowly but surely.”