"Las Excelencias de los Hebreos" ["Virtues of the Hebrews"], by Isaac ("Yshac") (Fernando) Cardoso. Amsterdam: David de Castro Tartas, 1679. Spanish. First Edition.
An apologetic work on the subject of the Jewish religion, by the physician and philosopher Isaac (Fernando) Cardoso, a descendant of a family of Marranos or conversos from Portugal.
Composition in two parts (each with separate title page). The first part is dedicated to the virtues and unique characteristics of the Jewish nation, and, among other things, deals with the issue of the Jews being a Chosen People. The second part is devoted to a refutation of various forms of libel and slander commonly leveled against the Jews at the time; it includes a chapter dedicated specifically to disproving the most widespread and infamous of blood libels, namely, the accusation that Jews make use of the blood of Christian children in their religious rituals. In the course of an extensive discussion of the Jewish faith, the author also relates his personal experience, and his own personal choice to live his life as a Jew.
A small woodcut is inserted into each of the two title pages. In the first title page a hand is shown emerging from the sky to collect wilted flowers. Above the hand is the caption "el que me esparsio me recogera" ["He who hath scattered me will collect me"]. The second title page bears a depiction of a large, flowering rose, and above it the inscription "Ellos Maldiziran y yo Bendizire" ["They will curse, and I shall bless"]. The text of the work begins with pages of book dedications to Jacob de Pinto, a Dutch Jew of Portuguese origin, a scion of one of the wealthiest and most influential Jewish families in Amsterdam at the time.
Isaac (Fernando) Cardoso (1603/4-1683), born in Portugal to a family of Marranos. His brother, Abraham Miguel Cardozo, was one of the central figures in the Sabbatean movement, one of its leading philosophers, and regarded by the movement’s followers as a prophet. Isaac Cardoso studied medicine and philosophy in Salamanca, Spain, and after working for some time as a doctor in the Spanish city of Valladolid, he settled in Madrid, becoming court physician to Phillip IV. Having spent much of his life in Spain as a Marrano, behaving outwardly as a Christian, he eventually chose to leave and move to Italy (apparently, out of fear of the Inquisition), and openly embrace the Judaism he never truly abandoned. Once in Italy, he blended into Venice’s community of Jews of Spanish origin. Cardoso finally settled in Verona in 1683 and functioned as the physician of the city’s Jewish community until his death in 1683.
[5] leaves, 431 pages (pages 257-264 bound out of sequence). Approx. 20.5 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Tear to page 299-300. Minor tears and creases to edges of some leaves. Worming, causing slight damage to text on several leaves. First leaves and final leaf blemished, professionally restored. Notations on title page and on other leaves. New binding.
