Galatino | Opus de arcanis catholicae veritatis, Basel, 1550, contemporary stamped pigskin

Pietro Galatino

Opus de arcanis catholicae veritatis... Basel: [Johannes Herwagen], 1550, woodcut device on title-page, woodcut initials, without second part containing Reuchlin

Altercatio synagogae et ecclesiae, in qua bona omnium fere utriusque instrumento librorum pars explicatur... Interlocutores Gamaliel et Paulus. Cologne: Melchior von Neuss, 1537, woodcut illustration on title-page, woodcut initials and illustrations

2 works in one volume, folio (304 x 195mm.), contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, two clasps, occasional damp-staining (heavier at beginning and with slight damage to upper corners), binding slightly worn 

This is the second edition of Galatino's work on proving Christian truths from Hebrew texts, which was first published in Ortona in 1518, but which also contains a defence of Hebrew texts along with numerous extensive quotations from them. He also defends Reuchlin's position that it is useful for Christians to study sacred Hebrew texts rather than destroy them. Joseph Scaliger later proved that much of his work was based on earlier writings on the subject, by the Spanish Dominican Raimund Martín and the Genoese Selvaggio Porchetti, resulting in diminished interest in Galatino's text.

The text of the second work probably dates from the first half of the fifth century, often associated with St Augustine and perhaps by a North African author much influenced by St Cyprian. It first appeared in print in Amerbach's 1505-1506 edition of the works of St Augustine and this is the first separate edition. Church and Synagogue are personified as ladies vying for power which results in a description of the social and legal position of pagans and Jews in the later Roman Empire. The woodcuts are attributed to Anton Woensam who produced numerous woodcuts for Cologne printers.

LITERATURE:

VD16 C 4615 & A 1996

PROVENANCE:

erased inscriptions on first title-page; "cat. inscr. Litera T. n. 4", inscribed on title-page of second work