Mirami, Rafael. Compendiosa introduttione alla prima parte della specularia, cioè della scienza de gli specchi. * Bound with: Tavole della prima parte della specularia, cioe’ della scienza de gli specchi.

(SCIENCES)

Heirs of Francesco de’Rossi and Paolo Tortorino

Ferrara

1582

FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. Woodcut title device and opening initials. The two pages illustrated (32-33) show the differences in reflections between flat, concave, and convex mirrors.

BL/STC Italian Books p. 440; Riccardi I(ii) 162; Wellcome I, 44341.

The only known publications by Rafael Mirami who identifies himself as a Jewish physician and mathematician from Ferrara. In the way it combines poetry along with a scientific interest in mirrors and optics, Mirami’s Compendiosa is both unusual and intriguing. Verses from Dante, Petrarch and Horace, intended to support his arguments, are sprinkled throughout the text, which even ends with the author’s own sonnet. The Jewish community at Ferrara was one of the largest and most active in Italy. It grew rapidly during the 15th century in part due to substantial immigration from less congenial parts of Europe. The Jewish presence began to change toward the end of the 16th century, when the rulers of the city built a ghetto to isolate and weaken the population.