Nomologia o Discursos Legales, by R. Imanuel Aboab. [Amsterdam], 5389 [1629]. Spanish.

R. Imanuel Aboab's Nomologia (Nomology, or legal discourses), authored over the course of about a decade, is a sort of apologetical work for the Oral Torah and Rabbinic tradition. In his work, Aboab responds to Marranos who had returned to Judaism, but tended to dismiss the traditional method of study and interpretation out of ignorance. This book is also famous for its descriptions of key events in Jewish history, including the Spanish Expulsion of 1492, and is therefore regarded as an early Jewish historiographical work. It was first printed by Aboab's heirs about a year after his passing.

R. Imanuel Aboab (ca. 1555-1628) was born in Porto, Portugal to a distinguished family of Spanish exiles whose members included R. Yitzchak Aboab, author of Menorat HaMaor, and R. Yitzchak Aboab of Castilia. He was orphaned as a child and was raised in the home of his grandfather Avraham, and in 1585 he moved to Italy in order to openly return to Judaism. He wandered from city to city in Italy, including Pisa, Reggio Emilia, Ferrara and Venice, and in the course of his travels he participated in theological debates with Christian scholars, managing a vast correspondence on ethics and Biblical exegesis. He served as rabbi of the Spanish-Portuguese community of Venice.

He authored his Nomologia between 1615-1625; in 1628 he immigrated to Eretz Israel, following his daughter Gracia, who had established yeshivas in Safed and Jerusalem, and he passed away there.

[1] leaf, 322 pages, [4] leaves. Copy without errata page. 19 cm. Good condition. Stains. Creases. Inkstains to several pages. Small marginal tears to a few leaves, including small open tears. Rebound. Wear and defects to binding.

Bookplate of Mozes Heiman Gans.