"The Epistle of Rabbi Samuel" – Anti-Semitic Treatise – Venice, 1537

"The Epistle of Rabbi Samuel" – Anti-Semitic Treatise – Venice, 1537
Tractatus Raby Samuelis, Errorem Judeorum Indicans [The Epistle of Rabbi Samuel…]. Printed for Giovanni Andrea Valvassori, Venice, 1537. Latin.
A polemic anti-Semitic treatise, divided into 27 short chapters, attempting to prove the truth of Christianity. The work comprises an epistle allegedly written by Samuel of Morocco (Samuel Marochitanus), a Jew who converted to Christianity, to his friend, Rabbi Isaac. It deals with the long exile of the Jews, which, according to the writer, was caused by the Jews' sin.
The treatise was presumably written in the late 1330s. It opens with a short introduction by Dominican monk and Bishop of Marrakech Alfonso Buenhombre, in which he claims that he translated the epistle from an ancient Arabic manuscript which was concealed for many years. The original Arabic manuscript, from which Buenhombre allegedly translated the epistle, has never been found, and it is now believed that Buenhombre composed the text himself (Samuel of Morocco was presumably based on Al-Samawal al-Maghribi, a Jewish mathematician, astronomer and physician who converted to Isalam, the author of the polemic book Ifḥām al-Yahūd [Confutation of the Jews]).
The Epistle of Rabbi Samuel was one of the most widely copied and printed anti-Semitic works in Europe of the late Middle Ages (it was printed in many editions, in different languages). It grew to be a deeply influential anti-Semitic tract, influencing anti-Semitic theologians such as Anton Margaritha and Martin Luther.
[27] ff., 15.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, some dark. Notations to margins. Vellum over card boards. Minor blemishes to binding.
Literature: Orah Limor, The Epistle of Rabbi Samuel of Morocco: A Best-Seller in the World of Polemics, in: Contra Iudaeos. Ancient and Medieval Polemics between Christians and Jews. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1996. pp. 177-194.