Wolf, Lucien

Jews in the Canary Islands. Being a Calendar of Jewish Cases Extracted From the Records of the Canariote Inquisition in the Collection of the Marquess of Bute

      The Jewish Historical Society of England. Printed for the Society by. Documents the persecution of Jews in the Canary Islands by the Spanish. Jewish victims of the great Iberian expulsion of 1492 had settled in the Canary Islands. Jews persecuted in the Canary Islands (Canariote Inquisition) then resettled to England during the Commonwealth. This title is an important and scarce historical document. Original heavy paper wraps, printed on front cover and spine; 274 pp.; 10 1/8 x 7 5/8 inches. Fold-out map in rear (fine). Moderate browning and soiling of covers, mostly spine. Spine chipped at hinges and extremities, but printed title entirely intact. Triangular portion of upper corner of rear cover missing (1 5/8 x 1 1/4 inches in greatest dimensions). Despite starting at hinges, the binding is still substantially tight. Internally, pages are clean. Overall, very good, and quite attractive, with an antiquarian patina of external wear. Translated from the Spanish and edited, with an introduction and notes by Lucien Wolf. In the text, the Calendar of Jewish Cases spans from 1499 to 1818. Appendix (Process of Antao Rodrigues Lindo) and Index. A sample of this fascinating story: "Between 1523 and 1532 the happy Canaries---the Fortunate Islands of the early voyagers---suffered a series of calamities as strange as they were appalling. Plague broke out in Grand Canary and ravaged the whole island, and in its wake followed the horrors of famine. The inhabitants fled to the neighbouring islands where they created a panic which speedily took the form of religious exaltation. This was the opportunity for the Inquisitor Ximenes, who at last found a congenial public opinion to appeal to. The awful visitations were pictured by him as manifestations of divine wrath on account of the tolerance of Judaical and Mohammedan backsliders, who celebrated in secret the rites of the detestable heresies they had solemnly pledged themselves to abandon. To appease the Almighty Don Martin set out on the warpath against the heretics, and laid his plans for a...