Auction 31 · Lot 273

(TRADITIONALLY ATTRIBUTED TO. Publicized by R. Moses b. Shem Tov de Leon). Sepher ha-Zohar [“The Book of Splendor”]

Estimate: $5,000–$7,000
Hammer price: $7,000

Historical auction record. Hammer prices exclude buyer’s premium and taxes.

author

SHIMON B”R YOCHAI

printer

Meir b. Ephraim of Padua and Jacob ben Naphtali Hakohen of Gazzuolo

Place

Mantua

Publication

1558-60

Description

FIRST EDITION. Five parts in three volumes. Complete with four titles each within architectural arch. Text in Rashi script

references

Vinograd, Mantua 51, 61 and 69; Wiener 3384; Scholem, Bibliographia Kabbalistica, pp. 166-7, no. 1; not in Adams

summary

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

ff. 5 (of 8), commences with the decision of R. Isaac de Lattes permitting the Zohar to be published, but lacks the introductory remarks of the corrector, Gabriel of Coropoli), - ff. 251, 269, 300. Vol. I: Title laid down and worn, few repairs. * Vol. II: Title supplied from another copy of vol. I containing the rare Latin permission of Pope Julio III signed by various Commissioners and Cardinals, dated April 1558, lacking in most copies, some marginal worming few leaves supplied from another copy. Vol. III: Signature on title, Yehudah Aryeh Provenzo, marginalia in various Italian hands, final leaves repaired affecting a few words of text, ff. 260-293 supplied from another shorter copy. Modern boards. 4to

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