JOSEPH BEN SAMUEL IBN REY:
Italian rabbi; died prematurely in Venice April 2, 1608. His epitaph (Wolf, "Bibl. Hebr." iv. 1213) leaves it to be supposed that his surname was an equivalent for "son of a king." Wolf, however (ib.), spells it 
(= "Dei"). He was the author of a work entitled "Sefer Massoret," a treatise on the Masorah, in which he endeavored to prove that there are no reasonless or unjustified repetitions in the Bible. Joseph is mentioned by Samuel Aboab in his responsa "Debar Shemuel" (No. 56).
Bibliography:
- Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 509;
- Mortara, Indice, p. 54;
- Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1520.
