Sacred Splendor: Judaica from the Arthur and Gitel Marx Collection
Sacred Splendor: Judaica from the Arthur and Gitel Marx Collection
SEFER HA-ZOHAR (THE BOOK OF SPLENDOR), ATTRIBUTED TO RABBI SIMEON BAR YOHAI, MANTUA: MEIR BEN EPHRAIM OF PADUA AND JACOB BEN NAPHTALI HA-KOHEN OF GAZZUOLO, 1558-1560
Auction Closed
November 20, 08:47 PM GMT
Estimate
35,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
SEFER HA-ZOHAR (THE BOOK OF SPLENDOR), ATTRIBUTED TO RABBI SIMEON BAR YOHAI, MANTUA: MEIR BEN EPHRAIM OF PADUA AND JACOB BEN NAPHTALI HA-KOHEN OF GAZZUOLO, 1558-1560
3 parts in 4 volumes (7 3/8 to 8 x 5 3/8 in.; 188 to 204 x 137 mm):
Vol. 1 (Genesis): 259 folios (foliation: [1-8], 1-251) on paper; title within elaborate architectural border; ornamental frames for initial word panels on ff. [2r], [5r], 1r, 15r; printed diagram on f. 37v; Latin marginalia, underlining, manicules, and marginal numeration in pen. Minor foxing and/or browning; light dampstaining in lower quadrant; small wormholes near gutter of ff. [1-2]; slight staining near upper edge of ff. 12-17; ink smudge in gutter of ff. 87v-88r; f. 109 loose at foot; minor worming in upper edge of ff. 248-251.
Vol. 2 (Exodus): 269 folios on paper; title within elaborate architectural border; ornamental frame for initial word panel on f. 2r; intermittent marginalia in pen (e.g., ff. 24r, 25r, 27r-v, 34v, 208v); censors’ signatures on f. 269v. Slight scattered staining and/or foxing; f. [1] closely cropped and repaired along lower edge; minor worming in gutter intermittently throughout, usually repaired and affecting only individual letters on ff. 103r-114v; ff. 218-219 reinforced along gutter; ff. 252-269 repaired in gutter; ff. 264-269 supplied and stained in upper-outer quadrant; ff. 264-265, 267-269 repaired in outer edges; f. 269 repaired in lower edge.
Vol. 3 (Leviticus): 115 folios on paper; title within elaborate architectural border; ornamental frame for initial word panel on f. 2r; modern foliation in pencil in lower-outer corner of recto; extensive marginalia and corrections in pen throughout, many taken from the corrections printed in Or nogah (Venice, 1658). Thumbed and stained; repairs in gutter throughout, rarely affecting text; slight worming toward front, usually affecting individual letters and usually repaired; ff. [1]-2 repaired in outer edges, slightly affecting frame on f. [1]; ff. 3-4 repaired in upper- and lower-outer corners; ff. 7-8 bound out of order; lower-outer corner of f. 16 repaired; ff. 43, 49-80, 98-115 supplied; minor worming in gutter at foot of ff. 91-97 repaired, with slight damage to individual words.
Vol. 4 (Numbers-Deuteronomy): 185 folios (foliation: [116]-300) on paper; title within elaborate architectural border; ornamental frame for initial word panel on f. [117r]; modern foliation in pencil in upper-outer or lower-outer corner of recto (2-123, 124-186); long kabbalistic discourse in pen on f. [116v]; marginalia in pen scattered throughout, sometimes protected by paper folds (e.g., f. 142r, 236v); printed diagrams on ff. 250r, 264r. Thumbed and stained; intermittent repairs in gutter; slight worming toward front, usually affecting individual words and usually repaired; ff. [116]-126 supplied and laid to size, with small section of architectural frame on f. [116r] replaced in facsimile; minor worming in outer edges of ff. 128-227, 281-290, often repaired; ff. 162-164 slightly damaged along lower edges; tears on ff. 269, 285 repaired; lower-outer corner of f. 290 repaired; f. 300 repaired along upper and lower edges.
All 4 volumes bound in modern blind-tooled calf; spines in four compartments with raised bands; title, place, and date lettered in gilt on spines; red- and brown-stained edges on vol. 1; modern paper flyleaves and pastedowns. Housed in a matching blind-tooled marbled paper-lined calf slipcase, slightly scuffed.
The first edition of the Zohar katan (quarto-format Zohar).
Sefer ha-zohar is the classic and most iconic work of Jewish mysticism, traditionally attributed to the mid-second-century sage Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai. Written in a mixture of Hebrew and a unique dialect of Aramaic, the Zohar constitutes a collection of esoteric discourses, parables, homilies, and narratives treating the primary topics of kabbalistic thought: cosmology, the nature of God and of the soul, good and evil, the afterlife, and the messianic era. The main body of the Zohar takes the form of a mystical midrash on select parts of the Pentateuch, accompanied by various other discrete texts.
At about the same time in the mid-sixteenth century, enterprising publishers in the neighboring Italian cities of Mantua and Cremona (see lot 32) decided to print the first editions of the Zohar using different sets of manuscripts. To overcome the fierce opposition to the dissemination of its esoteric lore to the masses, Meir ben Ephraim of Padua and Jacob ben Naphtali ha-Kohen of Gazzuolo obtained a letter from Rabbi Isaac Joshua Lattes (d. ca. 1570) permitting the book’s publication and advocating its study as a bulwark against the religious and ethical corruption of the generation.
Aside from the text itself, the Mantua and Cremona editions differ also in their physical features. Most prominently, the Mantua Zohar appeared as a quarto that was often bound in three or four volumes, while the Cremona version was printed in folio format in one volume (though it, too, could be split into three). The Mantua Zohar would eventually achieve hegemony vis-à-vis Cremona, especially after Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572) compiled a set of corrections to its text and Rabbi Moses Zacuto (1625-1697) declared Cremona to be “full of errors.” The Zohar katan of Mantua would subsequently be reprinted dozens of times in cities throughout Europe, as well as in Constantinople, Smyrna, and Jerusalem (see lot 263).
Provenance
Bibliotheca Orientalis Judaica Hebraica (1:[1v])
Aaron ben Solomon ben Joseph ha-Kohen Eraki (3:[1r-v])
Joseph ben Reuben (4:300v)
Literature
Daniel Abrams, “Eimatai hubberah ha-hakdamah le-sefer ha-zohar? Ve-shinnuyyim bi-tefasim shonim shel ha-hakdamah she-bi-defus mantovah,” Asuppot 8 (1994): 211-226.
Meir Benayahu, Ha-defus ha-ivri bi-cremona (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute; Mossad Harav Kook, 1971), 119-137.
Ephraim Gottlieb, “Ma’amarei ha-‘pikkudin’ she-ba-zohar,” Kiryat sefer 48 (1973): 499-508, at pp. 500-502.
Marvin J. Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book: An Abridged Thesaurus, vol. 1 (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2004), 484-485.
Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, Sifrei yesod: sifrei ha-yesod shel ha-sifriyyah ha-yehudit ha-toranit (n.p.: Chaim and Betzalel Stefansky, 2019), 94 (no. 324).
Isaiah Tishby, “Ha-pulmus al sefer ha-zohar ba-me’ah ha-shesh-esreh be-italyah,” Perakim: sefer ha-shanah shel mekhon schocken 1 (1967-1968): 131-182.
Vinograd, Mantua 51, 61, 69