Sefer HaIkkarim, principles of Jewish faith, by R. Yosef Albo. [Soncino, Israel Nathan Soncino and sons, 1485]. First edition. Incunabulum.
First edition of one of the classic works on Jewish thought. Printed in the early years of Jewish printing, in Soncino, Italy, in the famous press of the first Jewish family of printers.
The present copy comprises leaves [56]-[58] (gathering viii, leaves 2-4) which were removed from most copies by order of the Christian censor (see Bibliography of the Hebrew Book, listing 109905). These leaves bear many censorship deletions (and many open tears, with significant damage to text, due to ink erosion).
Printed without title page. The recto of the first leaf is blank, while the printer's foreword occupies the verso. At the end of the foreword, date of commencement of printing: 22nd Marcheshvan 1485, in Soncino.
Two colophons at the end of the book. The first states the date of completion of printing: 21st Tevet 1485. The second colophon, by one of the print workers, concludes with the famous play on the verse from Yeshaya (coined here): "From Zion shall go forth the law and the word of G-d from Soncino".
Woodcut initial word panels at the beginning of the table of contents and of the foreword.
Ownership inscriptions on leaf [1]: "This book belongs to the wise R. Baruch de Blanes"; "Meir the Sephardi"; "Yaakov of Modena[?]"; "This book belongs to the exalted scholar… R. Asher Ne'eman… of Verona".
Censorship deletions in several places. Many glosses (handwritten by the above-mentioned R. Yaakov), mostly outlines and quotations from the book; illustrations in several places; underlines.

Complete copy. [108] leaves. First and last page blank. 14 gatherings. i-ii8, iii6, iv-xiii8, xiv6. 25 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dampstains and dark stains. Tears, including open tears, slightly affecting text, mostly repaired with paper. Many open tears to three rare leaves (leaves [56]-[58]) due to censorship deletions and ink erosion, with significant damage to text. Worming, slightly affecting text, mostly repaired with paper. Marginal paper repairs to some leaves, close to text in several places. First leaf and final leaf repaired with strips of paper (to all margins). Handwritten inscriptions on endpapers. Bookplate. High-quality leather binding (marked: E.A. Enders, München), with minor defects.

There are typographic variations between the various copies of the book (presumably due to the fact that many leaves were rearranged in the course of the printing), notably on leaf 1 of gathering v (leaf [31]). See: Y. Rivkind, Kiryat Sefer, II, 1925-1926, pp. 55-56 (Rivkind distinguishes between two types of copies, one of which was proofread and corrected – the present copy is a corrected copy).
For a detailed bibliographic description of the book, see also: P. Tishby, Kiryat Sefer, 63, 1990-1991, pp. 615-621, no. 36.

The Soncino family were prominent Hebrew printers in the 15th and 16th century, and particularly in the incunabula period. They established their first printing press in Soncino, Italy, ca. 1483, and later wandered through various Italian cities with their printing equipment, resuming their printing operations wherever they settled. One of the prominent members of this family was Gershom Soncino. The family derived its name from the first town in Italy where they operated. Offered here are two editions of Sefer HaIkkarim, printed by the Soncino family – the first edition printed in Soncino by Israel Nathan Soncino and sons (Israel Nathan was the head of the family and founder of the printing firm in Soncino), and the fourth edition printed
in Rimini by Gershom Soncino (see next item).