One of the supreme works of philosophy in a rare Hebrew incunabulum. The "Guide for the Perplexed" of Moses ben Maimon - "Maimonides" (1135-1204 native of Cordoba, doctor and philosopher) was written in Judeo-Arabic about 1190 and translated into Hebrew almost immediately by Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon. This is one of the first printed Hebrew books and one of the most important philosophical works of the early middle ages, synthesizing Greek and Biblical thought. Maimonides wrote the "Guide" in the conviction that there can be no contradiction between divinely revealed truth and the findings of the human mind in science and philosophy. The work's principle topics are God, creation, prophecy, providence, evil, the nature of man, and moral virtue. The "Guide" was hugely influential, playing a pivotal role in the transmission of Greek philosophy and science from the Islamic East to the Christian West. It gave rise to the Aristotelian tradition in the Jewish world, and its linking of Aristotle and Scripture commanded the attention of the Christian Scholastics. Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus cite it extensively; Duns Scotus, Meister Eckhart, Spinoza, and Leibnitz all later testify to its importance. All Hebrew incunabula are rare - fewer than 200 separate editions are known to have been printed before 1500 - and commonly defective. Other than this one, only two copies of "Moreh Nebukim" have sold at public auction in 30 years and both were incomplete. Hebrew incunabula much resemble English incunabula in their rarity and typical state of incompleteness. In fact, an appropriate analogue to the present book is a major Caxton imprint. Goff Hebrew 80; Printing and the Mind of Man 14. Provenance: Elkan Nathan Adler-Wineman Family.