[INCUNABULA] - PAUL OF SAINT MARY. Incipit... - Lot 117 - Ader

[INCUNABULA] - PAUL OF SAINT MARY. Incipit dialogus qui vocatur Scrutinium scripturarum. Mantua: Johann Schall], 1475. - In-folio, 274 x 190 : (250 ff., 150th and last blank) [sig. (a)-o10 / 8 p-r8 A-K10 / 8 L8], gothic car, 39 lines. Stiff overlapping vellum, smooth spine (20th century imitation binding). Goff, P-204. - BMC VII p. 933. - Hain 10765. - Polain 3011. New rare incunabula edition of this work by Paul de Sainte Marie (1353?-1435), a Spanish rabbi who converted to Christianity in 1390, before the anti-Jewish persecutions of 1391, became bishop of Cartagena, Burgos, and archchancellor of Castile . He was one of the most influential figures in political and church society in late 14th and early 15th century Castile, and certainly the most virulent persecutor of the Spanish Jews of his time. He composed this text against Judaism one or two years before his death. It consists of two dialogues, the first between a Christian named Paul and a Jew named Saul, the second between a disciple and his master, in which the author expounds the truths of the Christian religion. The first edition appeared in Strasbourg around 1470, and is the first and one of the few printings by Johann Schall, who worked in Mantua only from 1475 to 1479 . The BMC lists only four works from his press. Copy without the treatise of Rabbi Samuel, which is sometimes found following the text of Paul de Sainte Marie. The copy reproduced on Gallica does not include this treatise either, which seems to have been added at a later date to the published copies. One corner damaged. Galleries and wormholes without gravity to several leaves, some light angular wetness. Angular loss to the last 4 leaves, without affecting the text. Old annotations in the upper margin of the leaves, cut by the binder.