Description

Augspurg: Heinrich Steyner, 1530. In German and Hebrew. 195 × 150 mm (7.75 × 5.75 inches). 4to. [92] ll. Large woodcut vignette on title page and 5 large woodcuts in the text, 3 large woodcut historiated initials. Good. Contemporary quarter sheep over wood, sheep heavily rubbed, back board separated from binding, metal and vellum clasp intact, spine mostly worn away, shelf label mounted onto spine, contemporary German notations on upper pastedown, ownership inscription on titlepage in Latin slightly worn away but can read “Saliburgi,” first and final gatherings separate from text block, heavy contemporary marginalia with drawings and manicules in German and Latin through M4 v.

The highly influential and extremely rare second printing of this sixteenth-century antisemitic work written by a converted Jew, under the auspices of describing “the entire Jewish faith, including a thorough and truthful account of all the statutes, ceremonies, prayers, religious and public customs which the Jews have observed throughout the year, with beautiful and well-founded arguments about their faith” (from the title, translated).

In this work, Antonius Margaritha (c. 1490–c. 1537) “also provides a translation of the prayer book into German . . . together with a running commentary on the synagogue service. Margaritha’s goal was not to satisfy the curiosity of Christians, but to expose Judaisim as an unbiblical religion that posed a danger to the Christian faith. His book served as a pattern for many subsequent anti-Jewish polemics,” including Martin Luther’s Von den Juden und ihren Lügen (on the Jews and their lies). Some studies believe that this may be the first translation into German of the Jewish Daily Prayer.

Margaritha’s denunciations of the Jewish faith were largely well received by contemporary Catholic and Protestant readers, especially as he was known not only to be the son of a prominent rabbi (Samuel ben Jacob Margolis of Regensburg), but was also a professor of Hebrew.

Interestingly, when Josel of Rosheim, a great advocate of German Jews, brought this book to the attention of emperor Charles V, the emperor had a committee appointed to investigate the various denunciations made by Margaritha. In 1530, Josel of Rosheim was requested to debate Margaritha concerning the merits of both religions. “Josel was declared the winner of the debate, with Margaritha personally banished from Augsburg by Charles V. Whether Josel actually merited victory or whether Charles was making German Jewry a personal political tool at the expense of Protestantism, declaring Josel the winner of this confrontation was daring, controversial, and very anti-Protestant.”

Significant Contemporary Marginalia

With significant contemporary marginalia in German and Latin in the first half of the book, and lighter marginalia in the second half. The marginalia include twenty-two manicules, three illustrations of hats, one fish, one animal with legs, and two further undecipherable drawings. Our scribe underlined the text, at times heavily, and wrote biblical notations in the margins, including: Deuteronomy 6, 28, & 32, Psalms 55 & 103, Amos 4, and a reference to the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 24. The contemporary ownership inscription points to this copy having been in Salzburg.

The woodcuts are highly expressive. On the title page, a woodcut attributed to Jan de Breu depicts a gathering of men in disputation, a number of whom are wearing the golden circle medallion (“rota”) that signifies that they are Jewish (see item eleven of this catalogue). The three rotas have remnants of red ink from old coloration. The other five woodcuts mostly contain satirical representations of Jewish rituals and customs. The three woodcut historiated initials have been attributed to Hans Holbein.

Although the binding is heavily worn (requiring the assistance of a book binder), internally the work is in very good condition and complete. Two editions were printed in 1530: the first printing was on March 16, and ours was printed (according to the colophon) on April 7. According to OCLC and VD16, our copy is complete as it consists of ninety-two leaves. (The first printing, March 16, is recorded as complete with one hundred leaves.)

Complete copies are unknown on the market. A highly incomplete text was last sold at auction in 2019, and none are currently on the market.

OCLC

Hebrew Union College, Brigham Young University, a few locations outside of the United States.

Provenance

Collection of Felix Guggenheim since at least the 1950s.

References

Dodgson II, 425; Muther; 1073; Hollstein, German Engravings, Etchings, and Woodcuts, IV, p. 183;
VD16 M 973.

Additional information