SEFER ROSH AMANAH (THE PINNACLE OF FAITH), DON ISAAC ABRABANEL, [CONSTANTINOPLE: DAVID AND SAMUEL IBN NAHMIAS, 1505]

The first edition of a seminal philosophical tract, and one of the first books printed in Constantinople.

Don Isaac Abrabanel (1437-1508) was a noted statesman, royal financier, biblical exegete, and philosopher. In Naples, where he settled shortly after being expelled from Spain in 1492, he completed (in 1494) the present treatise on Jewish dogma, structured around Maimonides’ famous enumeration of the Thirteen Principles of Faith (see lot 108). In twenty-four chapters, he subjects these principles, as well as the critiques thereof by Rabbis Hasdai Crescas (1340-1410) and Joseph Albo (1380-1444), to vigorous analysis before concluding with a vindication of Maimonides. However, Abrabanel himself felt that the entire enterprise of distilling a set number of principles of faith was misguided for, in his view, all the teachings of the Torah are revelations from God and thus of equal importance.

Sefer rosh amanah was brought to press in Abrabanel’s lifetime and published together with two other, slightly later works of his: Sefer zevah pesah (a commentary on the Passover Haggadah; see lot 206) and Sefer nahalat avot (a commentary on Pirkei avot). They were printed in their order of composition, each unit preceded by its own “title page” featuring a poem by the author’s son Judah (Leone Ebreo; ca. 1460-after 1523) in praise of the work but all three sharing a colophon that appears at the end of Sefer nahalat avot, dated Thursday, 9 Kislev 5266 (November 6, 1505).