Victor von Carben. Hier inne wirt gelesen wie Her Victor von Carben. Welicher eyn Rabi der Jude(n) gewest.

(GERMANY)

Quentell Erben

Cologne

1508

FIRST EDITION. One full-page woodcut

VD 16, ZV 15202 (not in Munich and Wolfenbuttel); Panzer, Annalen...291,610. Only one copy in America (Cornell Univ. Library (Rare BT1120.K18)

The author, Victor von Carben (1422-1515), was a German rabbi who converted to Catholicism and became a priest when he was 50 years old. He was involved in the Pfefferkorn controversy and was appointed one of the four Imperial Commissioners to examine Jewish books for potential blasphemy against the Church. The present work, the rare first edition later to be known as "Judenbuchlein," includes one of the earliest descriptions of the conditions and customs of Jews. Additionally, the book attempts to point out the errors within the Talmud as well as the reasons why the author left the faith of his birth. Although there is much of Jewish ethnographic interest, the Author’s purpose in providing this (occasionally disjointed) material, was in order to arm his Christian peers with internal information in order to seek to convert Jews to Christianity. Chapters focus upon life-cycle observances such as; dietary laws, Sabbath and Festivals, synagogue practices and liturgy, clothing, etc. Of unusual interest is von Carben’s particular attention to Jewish women. See E. Carlebach, Divided Souls: Converts from Judaism in Germany, 1500-1750 (New Haven, 2001)