[Judaica] - Tractatus Rabbi Samuelis - 1514

(Religion; early printing; Hebraica) Rabbi Samuel (SAMUEL ABU NASR IBN ABBA, SAMUEL OF MOROCCO) (11th century); ALPHONSUS BONIHOMINIS (ALONSO BUENHOMBRE)(?-1553)
Tractatus Rabby Samuelis, Errorem iudeorum indicans Impressum Venetiis, Per Alexandrum de Paganis Brixisien. 1514 (Colophon)
§ 8vo (170 X 105.); 32 leaves (last blank); signature: A-D1-8 (D8 blank). Later bound with a vellum leaf from an ancient manuscript, handwritten title on front cover. Free leaves renewed. Fine and fascinating copy.
Anti-Semitic pamphlet, first printed in 1474; apparently written in Arabic at the beginning of the eleventh century and translated into Latin in the 14th century by the Spanish Dominican Alphonsus Bonihominis. Some confusion exists about both the author and the translator: according to the Library of Congress, Samuel of Morocco was “... Jewish Rabbi converted to Christianity”, while Hirschfeld and Gottheil state that, after two visions in which Mohammed appeared to him, he “...embraced Islam, taking the name of Samau'al Yaḥya al-Maghrabi”. The same Gottheil also refers doubt about the translator: “Nothing is known about the translator; and Steinschneider is probably right in suspecting that he is none other than Paul of Burgos”. Actually quite a lot is known about the translator (sometimes considered the actual author), the Dominican friar Alphonsus Bonihominis, appointed bishop of Marrakesh in 1344 (Cheney; Library of congress). An extensive biography and information about the present work are given by Rodríguez de la Torre: “... In 1339, Friar Alonso Buenhombre was in the convent of Santiago, in Paris, where it is said that there he translated from Arabic into Latin a letter from Rabbi Samuel, addressed to Isaac, head of the Subiulmesta synagogue (Morocco): Tractatus rabbi Samuelis ad rabii Isaac ... Other sources date this translation, or perhaps its authorship, when he was bishop of Morocco; in the 15th century (1418?) the document was translated into Spanish by Juan de Villafuerte (Villanueva, 1902) and again, in Oran, by Fray Alonso de Esquivel (A. López, 1920). ... With the advent of the printing press, numerous editions were made, difficult to catalog, due to the constant change of titles of the work.” (translated). About Samuel of Morocco, Hirschfeld and Gottheil write that he “... studied philosophy, mathematics, and medicine; and for purposes of study he traveled in Irak, Syria, Azerbaijan, and Kohistan. ... He composed a polemical treatise, "Ifham al-Yahud" (Confutation of the Jews), called also "Kitab-al-naḳd wal-ibram" (Hirschfeld, "Das Buch al-Chazari," p. v.). In this work he points out that from time to time the abrogation of the Law is necessary and that, in fact, it has often occurred in Judaism. He tries to prove the prophetic character of Jesus and of Mohammed ... He affirms that the Jews of his time possess the Torah of Ezra and not that of Moses...”. The work went through several editions and during the Reformation was printed in Germany in response to Luther’s “Das Jhesus Christus ain geborner Jude sey” of 1523, in which the reformer’s opinion is that Jews resisted conversion because Christians “treated them like dogs.”.
 Library of congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr94024080.html; Hartwig Hirschfeld, Richard Gottheil Abbas, Samuel Abu Nasr ibn In: Jewish Encyclopedia (https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/174-abbas-samuel-abu-nasr-ibn); David M. Cheney Catholic-Hierarchy: Information on the Bishops and Diocese of the World, both current and historical (http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbonha.html), sub voce Bonhomme, Alfonso; Richard Gottheil Alphonsus Bonihominis In: Jewish Encyclopedia (https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1207-alfonsus-bonihominis); Fernando Rodríguez de la Torre Alfonso Buenhombre In: dbe.rah.es/biografias/63913/alfonso-buenhombre; O. LIMOR-G.G. STROUMSA (editors), 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, 1996, pp. 177-194.