Espejo de la Vanidad del Mundo ["The Looking-Glass of the Vanity of the World": ethics]

PEREIRA, ABRAHAM.

Alexander Janson

Amsterdam

1671

FIRST EDITION. Spanish with a few words of Hebrew. Floriated initials, tailpieces

Kayserling, p. 87 (incorrect collation)

This ethical work displays Biblical, Greek and Roman classical erudition, as well as Rabbinic learning. It is divided into five discourses dealing with topics such as the nature of the soul, the obligation to observe the precepts, fear and love of God, the tortures of Hell and the rewards of Heaven. Contains the approbations of three Sephardic Hahamim of Amsterdam: Isaac Aboab, Mosseh Rephael Aguilar and Josiah Pardo, praise for the book by Doctor Isaac Orobio de Castro and a sonnet for the author by poet Daniel Levi de Barrios. Pereira previously composed the ethical tract La Certeza del Camino in 1666. His works are noted by their autobiographical candor, something rare in the annals of Marrano literature, whose authors tend to be rather reticent about their lives in the Iberian Peninsula prior to their reconversion to Judaism