Benjamin Levy was the first major Jewish printer and publisher in the south, possibly in the country. The son of Simeon and Hetty Levy, his younger sisters were Julia Levy Solomons and Miriam levy. Born in New York in 1786, Levy moved to New Orleans around 1810, among the frist Jews to settle there. In 1817, he married Emilie prieur 1817. They had 2 children, Alexander and Mathilda.

He trained as bookbinder, and in 1811 opened a book and stationery shop in New Orleans. In 1817 he began publishing and in 1822 started a printing company specializing in law books. That same year he founded the New Orleans Price-Current and Commercial Intelligencer, the city’s first business journal. However, with the banking crisis of 1837, Levy’s luck began to change. He declared bankruptcy in 1843. Although he tried his luck again in printing, creating a company under his son’s name, Alexander Levy & Co. in 1858, it met the same fate as its predecessor.