Kevod Elokim [Defense of Jewish Philosophy]. Ferrara 1556. FIRST EDITION

Kevod Elokim ...

Kevod Elokim [Defense of Jewish Philosophy]. Ferrara 1556. FIRST EDITION

Kevod Elokim, delineates the differences between Judaism and Aristoteliansim, with the author forcefully positing that only by following the dictates of the Torah can one find the path to immortality.

Ferrara 1556. Abraham ibn Usque,   

[32] leaves. 19 cm. First edition.

Woodcut architectureal title-border; the Usque printer's mark (an armillary sphere [Yaari, Hebrew Printers' marks 22] on title-page.

With the rare colophon leaf (missing in most copies)

[Lunzer - Valmadonna collection]

Rabbi Joseph ben Shem-Tov ibn Shem-Tov (d.1480) was a prolific Judזo-Spanish writer born in Castile. His Kevod Elohim, a defense of philosophy, is his most important work.

Ornate title page with architectural frame, in the center of which is Avraham ibn Usque's printer's device: an astrolabe and an anchor.

R. Joseph held a position in the courts of Kings Juan II (1406-54) and Enrique IV (1454-74). His service to the former is unknown, but he was physician and auditor of accounts, and came into contact with distinguished Christian scholars. According to the custom of the time, he held public disputations with them in the presence of the court; this probably led him to study the polemical literature. In the preface to his commentary on Profiat Duran's Al-Tehi ka-Aboteka, he recounts a disputation with a Christian scholar concerning the doctrine of the Trinity. He seems to have elaborated this disputation and to have used it later in various anti-Christian writings. In 1452 he was sent by the Prince of Asturia, Don Enrique, to Segovia to prevent an outbreak of popular rage at Easter against the Jews. In 1455 he was dispatched to Portugal to arrange a royal marriage. By the following year, however, he is reported to have fallen into disfavor and traveled about the country giving discourses on the Sabbath. He speaks occasionally in his writings of great sufferings which drove him from place to place, and of passing through a severe illness. It is also suggested that although highly regarded by the Christians at court for his secular knowledge, his attainments aroused their enmity, so that he was murdered in 1480.

Of Ibn Shem-Ṭov's numerous writings, a list of which was compiled by Munk and supplemented by Beer and Steinschneider, only Kevod Elohim and two polemical commentaries have been published.

The printer Abraham ibn Usque, born Duarte Pinel in Portugal, was suspected there of Judaizing and fled c.1543. He came to Ferrara and returned to Judaism. Usque, who had published Latin titles in Portugal, began printing in Ferrara in 1551, issuing more than 25 Hebrew titles before the press closed in 1558. Most, but not all of his imprints bear his printer's mark, as seen twice on this volume.

 

Measurement:

14 x 19 cm