Conciliator, sive De convenientia locorum S. Scripturae, quae pugnare inter se videntur (On the Harmonization of Places in the Holy Scriptures that Seem to Conflict with One Another)
Amsterdam: by the Author, 1633. First edition. Modern calf. Quarto (19 by 14.6 cm). Collation: [asterisk]4 A-2G4. [8], 240 pp. Woodcut printer's device at title; 4 half-titles; printed marginalia. Text in Latin. Recent full polished calf to style, spine with raised bands. Text lightly toned, with damstaining/spotting (especially at outermost leaves); occasional slight chips or small tears at margins; one leaf with perforation resulting in loss of several letter on each side of page; small perforation in blank field at title. A fairly good copy.
First part only of the first Latin edition of this classic work on Jewish apologetics, written by the celebrated rabbi, religious thinker, and printer-publisher, Menasseh ben Israel (1604-1657). The work was first published in Spanish at Amsterdam in four parts between 1632 and 1651. By providing a harmonization of all the apparent contradictions within the Hebrew Scriptures, he hoped to encourage converso Jews of Iberian descent who had lost touch with their religious heritage to make the return to rabbinic Judaism. The present volume deals with the Pentateuch (Five Books of Moses); the second volume treats the Prophetic books and the Hagiographa (Writings). The work was first published a year earlier in a Spanish language edition.
The work attempts resolution to no less than 180 seeming discrepancies in the Pentateuch. The breadth of Menasseh’s encyclopedic knowledge is vast, the Conciliador contains citations from 221 Jewish and 54 non-Jewish authorities. “No reader could fail to be impressed by the amazing range of titles which the author proudly appended to the work” (Roth). Good-. Item #55772
References: Kayserling, p. 69; C. Roth, A Life of Menasseh ben Israel: Rabbi, Printer, and Diplomat (Philadelphia, 1945), p. 88. Silva Rosa 16.
Full title and imprint: Conciliator, sive De convenientia locorum S. Scripturae, quae pugnare inter se videntur. Opus ex vetustis, & recentioribus omnibus Rabbinis, magnâ industriâ, ac fide congestum. Amstelodami. Auctoris typis & impensis. M.D C XXXIII.
Price: $2,750.00