Sefer Yesod!
Fundamental Kabbalistic Work
Sefer HaYetzirah. First Edition. Mantua, 1562
Including Rare Illustrated Chart
Fundamental, ancient kabbalistic work attributed to Avraham Avinu with early commentaries attributed to the Rasag, Raavad, Ramban, the Baal Rokeach and the Spanish kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Butril.
Sefer Yetzirah is one of the oldest known kabbalistic works, and also one of the most trusted, as evident from the commentaries of the Arizal and Vilna Gaon.
Without a doubt, Sefer Yetzirah is the single most fundamental kabbalistic sefer along with the Sefer Hazohar by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
The present sefer encompasses kabbalistic formulas shaped in a circle that are intended for calculating the combination of Holy Names by inserting a smaller circle into the middle of the large one. For this purpose, the sefer boasts a large page of small circles which is meant to be cut and connected into the interior of the larger circles.
The leaf from which the above-mentioned circles were cut out is an exceedingly rare find and missing from the majority of extant copies of this sefer. In the present copy, it is bound after the title page.
On the last page, the printers compiled a bibliographic list of commentators on Sefer Yetzirah who were mentioned in the sefer’s commentaries and a list of their kabbalistic works. This is a bibliographic list with important and unique information, perhaps the first such list in print.
Mantua 1562. First edition.
Page Count: 105 leaves, 1 folded chart.
Size: 20 cm.
Condition: Good. Stains; mostly signs of use at margins; restorations to title page margins. New leather binding.
Bibliography: Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod, #333.
