(TRADITIONALLY ATTRIBUTED TO. Publicized by R. Moses b. Shem Tov de Leon). Sepher ha-Zohar [“The Book of Splendor”]
AUCTION 31 |
Tuesday, December 13th,
2005 at 1:00
Fine Judaica: Hebrew and Other Printed Books
Lot 273
SHIMON B”R YOCHAI
(TRADITIONALLY ATTRIBUTED TO. Publicized by R. Moses b. Shem Tov de Leon). Sepher ha-Zohar [“The Book of Splendor”]
Mantua: Meir b. Ephraim of Padua and Jacob ben Naphtali Hakohen of Gazzuolo 1558-60
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
PRICE REALIZED $7,000
First Edition of the Bible of Jewish Mysticism.
The most sacred and influential of all Kabbalistic works, the Zohar is the preeminent classic of world mystical literature, a quest for Divine unity and a search for insight into the mysteries of the Torah. A textually inferior but more esthethic reprint by Vincenzo Conti of Cremona immediately followed this Mantua edition, however Kabbalists such as R. Moses Zacuto (Rama”z) esteemed more highly the Mantua edition for its precision and indeed the pagination of the Mantua edition has become standard.
See M. Benayahu, Ha-Defuss ha-Ivri bi-Cremona (1971), pp. 121-137; S. Simonsohn, History of the Jews in the Duchy of Mantua (1977), pp. 630-632; D. Amram, The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy (1963), pp. 325-27