Fragments of Hebrew incunabula in inquisitorial documents from the Court of Logroño

Abstract

In a trial initiated in 1561 by the Court of the Inquisition of Calahorra against the vicar of Arróniz, also commissioner of the Inquisition, a scroll was found with Hebrew letters printed upon it, containing a passage from the book of Esther. It was used as a panel to reinforce the stitching of the documents and belongs to an incunable originating from the printing press of Eliezer ben Abraham Alantansi de Híjar, between 1486 and 1489. Among the documentation produced by the same Court, another three smaller fragments have appeared, two of which belong to the same incunable (Joshua and Numbers) and the other (Isiah and Jeremiah) from the same typographic workshop but from an example of the Bible which has still to be identified.