(“Leone Ebreo.”) Dialoghi di Amore.

ABRABANEL, JUDAH.

Domenico Giglio

Venice

1558

Printer’s mark on title.

Adams A-63.

Following the Spanish Expulsion, Judah Abrabanel (c.1465-c.1523) settled in Italy and there became one of the major standard-bearers of the Italian Renaissance. The eldest son of Don Isaac Abrabanel, but more commonly known as Leone Ebreo, Judah Abrabanel’s literary fame rests upon the Dialoghi, among the most popular philosophical works of the age. His central thesis is that love is the foundation of the world and that nothing besides it exists. Abrabanel’s poetic sentiment and orthodox traditions significantly contribute to the fact that he could not be content with the rationalism of the Aristotelian-Maimonidean system and was more attracted to the mystical world of the medieval Kabbalah with its strong inclination toward neo-Platonism. For a brief analysis of the philosophy found within Dialoghi di Amore, see I. Zinberg, A History of Jewish Literature (1975) Vol. IV, pp.15-20.