Anti–Jewish Book by the Hebraist Pietro Galatino – Printed by Gershom Soncino in Attempt to Gain Support for ...

Anti–Jewish Book by the Hebraist Pietro Galatino – Printed by Gershom Soncino in Attempt to Gain Support for Printing the Talmud – Ortona (Italy), 1518

Opus toti christiane reipublice maxime utile, de arcanis catholice ueritatis, contra obstinatissimam iudeoru[m] nostre tempestatis p[er]fidiam: ex Talmud, aliisq[ue] hebraicis libris nuper excerptum [A Work Most Useful for the Christian Republic on the Secrets of the Catholic Truth, against the Hard–Hearted Wickedness of Our Jews, Newly Excerpted from the Talmud and Other Hebrew Books…], by Pietro Galatino. Ortona (Italy): Gershom Soncino, 1518. Latin and some Hebrew.
In 1509, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I ordered the confiscation of Jewish books by authorized agents, following Johannes Pfefferkorn's accusation that they were "the source of all evil". The confiscation of Jewish books aroused the opposition of several German scholars, who claimed that Christian truth was hidden in Jewish sources. The debate that developed eventually led the emperor to rescind the order.
This book, authored by the Franciscan Hebraist and scholar Pietro Colonna Galatino, shows that Jewish texts contain hints to the Christian doctrine. Although the work was anti–Jewish, printing this book was a clever act on the part of Soncino to gain support for printing the Talmud from the more liberal movement within the Catholic church, to which Galatino belonged (see: Angelo Piattelli, New Documents Concerning Bomberg’s Printing of the Talmud, in: Mehevah le–Menahem: Studies in Honor of Menahem Hayyim Schmelzer, Jerusalem, The Schocken Institute for Jewish Research, 2019, pp. 171•–199•).
The book contains many Biblical and Talmudic quotes in Hebrew. The first page of each chapter is set within a woodcut border (this border was used in title pages of various Hebrew books printed by Gershom Soncino, such as Kol Bo, Rimini 1525–1526).

CCCXI, [1] leaves. 31.5 cm. Good–fair condition. Stains. Worming, slightly affecting text. Some tears, repaired with paper. Extensive wear, stains and open marginal tears to title page. Handwritten Latin inscriptions. Old binding, with leather spine and corners. Wear and defects to spine. Gilt lettering on both boards: "Society of Writers to The Signet".

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, NHB.146.