[on cosmogony and thaumaturgy]. Anonymous (Attributed to Abraham the Patriach)

SEPHER YETZIRAH

Jacob ben Naphtali Hacohen

Mantua

1562

FIRST EDITION. Title within woodcut architectural arch. Numerous spherical charts and Kabbalistic diagrams. With rare additional illustrated folding leaf (bound at end)

Vinograd, Mantua 86; not in Adams

A FINE COPY, INCLUDING THE TANTALIZINGLY ELUSIVE illustrated folding leaf. “The earliest extant Hebrew text of systematic speculative thought” (Scholem). The central subject of the Sepher Yetzirah is a compact discourse on cosmology and cosmogony (a speculative form of the creation act). The work is outstanding for its clearly mystical character. It opens with the declaration that God created the world with “32 secret paths of wisdom.” These 32 paths are defined as “the Ten Sephiroth and the 22 elemental letters of the Hebrew alphabet.” The first chapter deals with the Sephiroth and the remaining five chapters with the function of the letters. The final leaf contains a bibliographical listing of 23 kabbalistic works which are cited in the commentaries, prepared by the publishers. According to G. Scholem, the commentary attributed to Nachmanides is actually the work of Azriel ben Menachem of Gerona. See Kiryat Sepher, vol. VI (1930) pp. 385-410