Shaarei Teshuvah, by Rabbeinu Yonah "HaChassid" of Gerondi. [Fano: Gershom Soncino Press, ca. 1504]. First edition.
Printed without title page. At the top of the first leaf: "Shaarei Teshuvah by the pious Rabbeinu Yonah of blessed memory".
The first edition of Rabbeinu Yonah's famous book, and one of the most important works of Jewish ethics. The book has been printed over the years in nearly a hundred editions.
Shaarei Teshuvah deals with the fundamental issues of repentance and atonement for sins, and it is one of the famous classic books on the precept of repentance. The book contains four chapters. The first chapter delineates the actions required of the sinner coming to repent. The second chapter deals with various factors that bring a person to repent. The third chapter is comprised of a detailed description of dozens of commandments and sins, ordered by severity. The fourth and final chapter mentions different types of atonement for various sins. Shaarei Teshuvah, in the form familiar to us, was originally part of a larger and more comprehensive work that included other chapters (which in Hebrew are referred to as "gates", and are mentioned occasionally in the book), but these "gates" have not come down to us.
The author, Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerondi (ca. 1210-1263), one of the great medieval Torah authorities, was a rabbi in Catalonia and a central and influential figure in Spanish Jewish life in the 13th century. He was known in his lifetime as a great preacher and one of the important Talmudic commentators (the novellae he wrote on several tractates have been mostly lost). His fame for the ages derives in large part from the ethical books he wrote, including Iggeret HaTeshuvah, Sefer HaYirah and first and foremost Shaarei Teshuvah. Shaarei Teshuvah had much influence even in the author's own time, and in subsequent generations it was a recognized influence on various different authors.
See further on Rabbeinu Yonah and his writings: Y.M. Ta-Shma, Ashkenazic Pietism in Spain: Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerondi – the Man and His Work, Studies in Medieval Rabbinic Literature, Volume 2: Spain, Bialik Institute, Jerusalem, 2004, pp. 109-148.
The work "Mussar Haskel BiMelitzah" by Rav Hai Gaon is printed at the end of the work (printed in tandem by Gershom Soncino in Fano, 1504, in a smaller format), as well as Sefer HaYirah by Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerondi (first printed in the book Halichot Olam, Leiria, ca. 1495).
One-line colophon on the last leaf: "In the city of Fano by the youngest of the typesetters of the Soncino family".
Glosses and several handwritten corrections in a few places, some of them in Sephardic-Italian script (characteristic of Livorno ca. 18th century; resembling the handwriting of the Kabbalist R. Yosef Ergas or his student R. Malachi HaKohen).
Italian ownership inscriptions of Moises Gutiérrez Peña (presumably from Livorno, see enclosed material) at the beginning and the end of the book.

[45] leaves. [1] blank leaf lacking at beginning of book. Approx. 20 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Worming, slightly affecting text, partially repaired with paper filling. Stamps. New leather binding.

Year of publication following Yudlov, Ginzei Yisrael, no. 973.
The book was printed by the renowned Jewish printer Gershom Soncino, one of the most prominent Hebrew printers in Italy. Soncino traveled with his family and printing equipment through various Italian cities, printing Hebrew books wherever he stayed.