Don Isaac Abravanel, Statesman & Philosopher

Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1968. Second Edition [stated]. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. Good in good dust jacket. DJ has some wear, tears, soilng, and chips.. xii, 350, [4] p. 22 cm. Notes. Bibliography. Index. From Wikipedia: "Abrabanel was born in Lisbon, Portugal, into one of the oldest and most distinguished Jewish Iberian families, the Abravanel family, At twenty years old, he wrote on the original form of the natural elements, on religious questions and prophecy. Together with his intellectual abilities, he showed a complete mastery of financial matters. This attracted the attention of King Afonso V of Portugal who employed him as treasurer. After the death of Afonso he was obliged to relinquish his office, At Toledo, his new home, he occupied himself at first with Biblical studies, and in the course of six months produced an extensive commentary on the books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. But shortly afterward he entered the service of the house of Castile. Together with his friend, the influential Don Abraham Senior, of Segovia, he undertook to farm the revenues and to supply provisions for the royal army, contracts that he carried out to the entire satisfaction of Queen Isabella. When the banishment of the Jews from Spain was ordered with the Alhambra decree, he left nothing undone to induce the king to revoke the edict. In vain did he offer him 30, 000 ducats ($68, 400 nominal value). With his brethren in faith he left Spain. He went to Naples, where, soon after, he entered the service of the king. In 1503 he settled in Venice, where his services were employed in negotiating a commercial treaty between Portugal and the Venetian republic. He died in Venice in 1508 and was buried in Padua next to Rabbi Judah Minz, Rabbi of Padua. Owing to the destruction of the Jewish cemetery there during the Siege of Padua in 1509, his grave is now unknown." From Wikipedia: "Benzion Netanyahu (March 25, 1910 April 30, 2012) was an Israeli scholar of Judaic history, activist in the Revisionist Zionism movement, who lobbied in the United States for the creation of the Jewish state. His field of expertise was the history of the Jews in Spain and was a professor at Cornell University.