Gikatilla, Joseph. Portae Lucis (“Gates of Light.”) Paulus Ricius’s Latin translation of substantial portions of Sha’arei Orah.

AUCTION 72 | Thursday, March 16th, 2017 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Holy Land Maps & Fine Art

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Lot 154

(KABBALAH)

Gikatilla, Joseph. Portae Lucis (“Gates of Light.”) Paulus Ricius’s Latin translation of substantial portions of Sha’arei Orah.

<<FIRST EDITION IN ANY LANGUAGE>> . Latin interspersed with vocalized Hebrew. Exquisite title woodcut by Hans Burgkmayr. Title in red and black. Latin kabbalistic chart on f. 44v. Tailpiece of man in armor. ff. (55). Final 11 leaves expertly reproduced in facsimile on old paper. Later vellum, stained. Sm. 4to. Scholem, Bibliographia Kabbalistica (1933), p. 128, no. 942; EJ, Vol. X, col. 635 (facsimile of title).

Augsburg: Johannes Miller 1516

Est: $4,000 - $6,000

<<THE BOOK THAT OPENED THE PORTAL OF KABBALAH TO CHRISTIAN HEBRAISTS.>> Sha’arei Orah, a work roughly contemporaneous with the publication of the Zohar, was composed by the Spanish Kabbalist Joseph Gikatilla toward the end of the 13th century. It has served countless generations of aspiring students as a systematic primer of Kabbalah. By translating the work into Latin, Paulus Ricius, a converted Jew, made available to Christians for the first time, what amounts to an introductory course in the concepts and keywords of the Kabbalah. Ironically, the Hebrew original of this classic work would not be published for another 45 years (Mantua, 1561). See EJ, Vol. X, col. 646.