b'37AQUINAS, THOMAS. Summa Divi Thomae Aquinatis Ordinis Praedicatorum Contra Gentiles quam Hebraice Eloquitur / Kitzur MeHaKadosh Thomas MeAqunio MiKet HaDarshanim Neged HaGoyim [systematic exposition against non-Christians].FIRST EDITION IN HEBREW.Three parts in one. Latin and Hebrew in parallel columns. Hebrew translation by Giuseppe Ciante. pp. (12), 44, (4), 196, 270, (2), 391, (1). Foxed in places, dampwrinkled. Contemporary vellum, rubbed. Folio. [Vinograd, Rome 31.] Rome, Jacob son of Andrew, 1657. $700 - $1000ThomasAquinas(1225-74)wrotethisseminalworkof Christian doctrine in order to defend the faith against attack from other religions. When Pope Urban VIII launched his campaign to convert the Jews of Rome, Joseph Ciantes, a Dominican friar and student of Oriental languages, was tasked to translate this work into Hebrew. Most notably, Ciantes only translated the first three of the four books, which appeal to human intellect, while leaving out the fourth book, as it covers topics pertaining to revelead truth, and would likely not impress the Jewish reader. See EJ, Vol. III, col. 229-31.38ASCHKENAZI, ELIEZER BEN ELIJAH HAROF. Yosef Lekach [commentary to the Book of Esther, with text].FIRST EDITION. Title within historiated woodcut architectural arch. Wide margins ff. 83. Ex-library, stained, marginal repair to title, stamps removed on opening and closing leaves. Later marbled boards, distressed. Sm. 4to. [Vinograd, Cremona 47; Benayahu, Cremona 44.] Cremona, Christopher Draconi, 1576. $600 - $900 Eliezer Aschkenazi held inuential positions in widely scattered Jewish communites from Egypt, Cyprus and Italy to the major 16th-century centers in Poland, where he died. His Biblical exegesis is permeated with the contemporary rationalistic spirit of rabbinical scholarship.19'