MAGINO, MEïR DI GABRIELE:
French silk-manufacturer; lived at Venice. In 1587 he went to Rome to promote the manufacture of silk, which had been begun in that city; and on June 4 of the same year the monopoly of silk-manufacture by his improved process was secured to him for sixty years, only the sister of the pope taking a share of the profits. He was also permitted to live outside the ghetto for fifteen years. In 1588 Magino printed his Italian lectures on the uses of silk and on its manufacture, dedicating the book to Pope Sixtus V. In the same year he received a privilege and patent for polishing mirrors and cut glass with a vegetable oil which he had discovered.
Bibliography:
- Ranke, Römische Päpste, i. 455;
- Natale Ettore, Il Ghetto di Roma, p. 218;
- Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ii. 180 et seq.;
- Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ii. 23.
