(Toldoth Adam) Sirtutei Hayad [kabbalistic palmistry]

GALLINA, MOSES BEN ELIJAH.

Tomazsow, Poland

Late 17th - early 18th century

Manuscript in Hebrew, written on paper in a neat cursive Aschkenazic hand by Moshe ben Eliyahu of Tomashov. Three chiromantic illustrations of the palm of the hand on final three leaves.

A highly influential treatise on palmistry, published in many editions with various titles from Constantinople, 1515 to Bombay, 1886. The author (Gallina) was a 15th-century Jewish scholar from Crete, his name is recorded on the third line of f. 8a. (See St. Cat. Bod. 4951). According to Prof. Moshe Idel there are very few manuscripts of this work extant. On kabbalistic chiromancy (palmistry) in general, see the learned article by G. Scholem in EJ Vol. V, cols. 477-79.