[JUDAICA]. PORCHETUS (d. 1315). Victoria Porcheti aduersus impios Hebreos, in quatum ex sacris literis, tum ex dictis Talmud… Paris: Guillaume des Palins for Gilles de Gourmont and Francois Regnault, 1520.

Small folio in sixes (267 x 191 mm). Title within an elaborate allegorical woodcut border and with printer’s device, woodcut initials throughout (old erasure to title, date of publication in a contemporary hand, top fore corner dampstained). (Tiny hold to sig. h4, occasional dampstaining near top fore corner). Full 18th century red morocco gilt, spine in 6 compartments with raised bands, gilt-lettering in 2, others with floral devices gilt, edges gilt, gilt dentelles (spine gently darkened); folding cloth chemise and morocco-backed slipcase. Provenance: Julius H. Cohn of the Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, Newark’s oldest Jewish congregation; gifted to the Hebrew Union College (typed letter from a Rabbi laid in); sold 29-30 November 1948 at Parke-Bernet).

FIRST EDITION of one of the rarest and most notorious works of anti-Semitism, drawing upon Biblical, Talmudic, and Cabbalistic literature. This was one of the first printed books to discuss the doctrine of the Kabbalah. A VERY RARE WORK, the present copy appears to be the only copy of the book sold at auction in more than 50 years.