In 1516 Poul Ræff published Nouiter in lucem data: iudeorum secreta (‘Recently brought out into the light: The secrets of the Jews’), his Danish translation of Johannes Pfefferkorn’s Libellus de Judaica confessione (‘The small book of the confession of the Jews’ from 1508). Nouiter in lucem data is the oldest extant book in Danish printed by a Dane in Denmark – something that makes the book rather remarkable. (Earlier books in Danish had been printed either by Danes abroad or by foreigners in Denmark.)

This paper will investigate how Ræff translated Pfefferkorn by focusing on his use of native elements, mistranslations and errors, and omissions and simplifications. It will also look at the context in which Ræff’s translation was read by looking at the marginalia and surrounding texts tha Nouiter in lucem data is bound with in its two extant copies. Furthermore, it will attempt to answer the question of why Ræff invested his time and money in publishing Pfefferkorn in Denmark – a country with no resident Jewish population at the time – and whether he was successful in his aims.