ABRABANEL, DON ISAAC

ABRABANEL, DON ISAAC
Rosh Amanah [on the principles of faith]
FIRST EDITION. Initial text page with a poem by the Author’s eldest son, philosopher Judah Abrabanel (Leone Ebreo) enclosed by a metalcut, white-on-black historiated border of animals designed by the Marrano, Alfonso de Cordoba. Extensive manuscript notations throughout written in Latin and Hebrew and in a 16th-century hand.
ff. (20). Stained, opening page trimmed and laid onto larger leaf. Modern gilt-tooled emerald crushed morocco. Sm. folio. Vinograd, Const. 9; Mehlman 1189; S.J. Weiss, Pirkei Avot no. 4.
Constantinople: David & Samuel ibn Nahmias 1505
Rosh Amanah [“The Pinnacle of Faith”] is Abrabanel’s most important work on philosophical-theological questions. The work is devoted to the championing of the Maimonidean Thirteen Articles of Faith against the attacks of Chasdai Crescas (Or Hashem) and Joseph Albo (Sepher Ha’Ikarim). The elaborate metal-cut border around the opening pages of this work was the first decorative border to be used in a Hebrew book.