Sefer HaIkarim, principles of Jewish faith, by R. Yosef Albo. Soncino: [Yisrael Natan Soncino and sons], 1485. First edition. Incunabulum.
First edition of a classic work of Jewish thought. Printed in Soncino, Italy, in the early years of Hebrew printing, in the famous press of the first Jewish family of printers.
Printed without title page. The recto of first leaf is blank, while the printer's foreword occupies the verso: "As this important work, called Sefer HaIkarim, by the great sage R. Yosef Albo the Spaniard of Soria in Spain is of very great benefit to the people of our nation… and moreover… as it is less than seventy years since the passing of that sage, the author of this book… in order to spread its benefit… we decided to typeset it in full…". At the end of the foreword, date of commencement of printing: 22nd Cheshvan 1485, in Soncino.
Two colophons at end of book. The first gives the date of completion of printing as 21st Tevet 1485. The second colophon, by one of the print workers, concludes with the famous play on the verse from Yeshayahu (coined here): "From Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of G-d from Soncino".
Woodcut initial word panels at the beginning of the table of contents and of the introduction.
Many censorship expurgations (including deletions of entire lines in several places).
On first and last leaves, paper watermarks highlighted, forming the head of a horned animal.
On blank side of first leaf, rhyming inscription in Italian script praising and declaring the writer's affection for an individual referred to by initials.
Below this inscription is a Latin ownership inscription handwritten by Danish Orientalist and scholar Jacob Georg Christian Adler (1756-1834), attesting that he received the book from the scholar and bibliographer Giovanni Bernardo de Rossi (1742-1831, a pioneer of Hebrew incunabula research), in Parma, in 1780. He writes that complete copies of the book are scarce, and that the Inquisition destroyed them because of their anti-Christian content; he notes the leaves lacking in this copy due to censorship (see below).
[105] leaves. Originally: [108] leaves. Lacking [3] leaves: [56]-[58] (viii2-4), lacking in most copies, due to Christian censorship (the present copy contains photocopy replacements). 27.5 cm. Fine margins. Varying condition of leaves, some leaves in good-fair condition, others in fair to fair-good condition. Stains, including dark dampstains and traces of former dampness to last leaves. Worming (significant worming to inner margins of many leaves), affecting text, mostly repaired with paper filling. Tears and open tears, affecting text (large open tear to first leaf covering approx. half of leaf, and large marginal open tears to last leaves), mostly repaired with paper filling. Old binding (new endpapers), with leather spine and corners. Wear and defects to binding.
There are typographic variations between the different copies of the book (presumably because many leaves were reset during the course of the printing), notably on leaf 1 of gathering v (leaf [31]). See: Y. Rivkind, Kiryat Sefer, II, 1925-1926, pp. 55-56 (Rivkind distinguishes between two types of copies, one of which was proofread and corrected – the present copy is of the corrected type).
For a detailed bibliographic description of the book, and the bibliographical disagreement as to which member of the Soncino family printed the book, see further: P. Tishby, Kiryat Sefer, LXIII, 1990-1991, pp. 615-621, no. 36.
The Soncino family were prominent Hebrew printers in the 15th and 16th centuries, and particularly in the incunabula period. They established their first printing press in Soncino, Italy, ca. 1483, and later wandered through various Italian cities with their printing equipment, resuming their printing operations wherever they settled. A prominent member of this family was Gershom Soncino. The family derived its name from the first town in Italy where they operated.
Provenance: Sotheby's, Delmonico Collection, New York, 17 December 2008, Lot 20 (the catalogue notes that the copy belonged to the collection of the Royal Library in Copenhagen, and was sold by the library ca. 1950, after the Lazarus Goldschmidt incunabula collection was purchased).
