Fortalitium fidei contra Iudeos: Sarracenos: aliosque christiane fidei inimicos.

In 8° (mm.167 x 122 x 61) di ([8],CCCLXXI, [4] cc.) ,legatura coeva in piena pergamena, residui di disegni di arma nobiliare ai due piatti, bel frontespizio xilografico impresso in rosso e nero,titoli entro ricca bordura architettonica, sei magnifiche incisioni a piena pagina, centinaia di capilettera ornati di buona fattura,testo in gotico su due colonne, 40 linee per pagina, copia freschissima su carta frusciante. Prima edizione del XVI secolo , di notevole rarità, solo tre copie nelle biblioteche italiane (tutte con numerazione errata), Ref : Baudrier XI 225 ; Adams S 1592. A fine copy of the of the first XVIth century edition of this influential apologetic of Christianity and systematic guide to defense against its enemies. The Franciscan Alphonsus de Spina, himself a Jewish convert, was a celebrated preacher and superior of the Friars Minor at Salamanca; named Bishop of Thermopylae in 1491, he died soon after. The first four books of this notorious work are directed against those who deny the divinity of Christ, and against heretics, Jews, and Muslims. Part 3, on the iniquities of the Jews, is a veritable encyclopaedia of mediaeval anti-Semitic libel, containing numbered lists of Jewish "cruelties" and refutations of the Jews' supposed anti-Christian arguments. The section on Islam lists the numerous Sarracen wars, while the fifth book is devoted to the battle to be waged against the Gates of Hell and its resident demons, whose population the author calculates at over 133 million; this is one of the earliest printed discussions of witchcraft and a precursor to the Malleus maleficarum ).