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Religion
Lot 48
THE KABBALAH REVEALED. GIKATILLA, JOSEPH BEN ABRAHAM. 1248-1305. RICIUS, PAULUS, translator. Portae Lucis. Augsburg: Johannes Miller, 1516.
31 March – 8 April 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, New YorkUS$20,000 - US$30,000
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THE KABBALAH REVEALED.
GIKATILLA, JOSEPH BEN ABRAHAM. 1248-1305. RICIUS, PAULUS, translator. Portae Lucis. Augsburg: Johannes Miller, 1516.
4to (185 x 140 mm). Text in Latin with Hebrew. Woodcut title page featuring the Sefirot by Hans Burgkmayr, printed in red and black, Kabbalistic chart in Latin (44v), woodcut tailpiece (55v), without final blank. Modern drab paper boards, minor marginal staining to final 7 leaves.
THE FIRST PRINTED BOOK ON THE SEPHIROT AND THE KABBALISTIC TREE OF LIFE, INCLUDING THE FIRST PRINTED DEPICTION OF THE SEPIHROT. A highly important work by one of the greatest medieval Kabbalists, Gikatilla's "Gates of Light" (Portae Lucis) was enormously influential both within Jewish and Christian circles. Trained in both science and philosophy, and called "a master of miracles" (Ba'al ha-Nissim), Gikatilla was the prize student of Abraham Abulafia, the renowned founder of "Prophetic Kabbalah" (famed for his mystic contemplation of the Hebrew alphabet). Gikatilla's writings influenced Moses de Leon, the author of the Zohar. Isaac Luria, the originator of modern Kabbalistic thought, called Gikatilla's "Gates of Light" a key to understanding mystical studies.
Paulus Ricci, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, translated Gikatilla's Sha'arei Orah into Latin to help the Christian community understand and convert their Jewish brethren. The book was read by all the Renaissance luminaries, and Johannes Reuchlin was inspired by it to publish his celebrated De Arte Cabalistica the following year in 1517.
A complete copy of this rare and important work — opening the western world to the ideas of Kabbalah, and famously featuring the first printed depiction of the Sefirot and Kabbalistic Tree of Life (see Van Heertum, Philosophia Symbolica: Johann Reuchlin and the Kabbalah, 2005, p 61). Very rare in commerce. Scholem Bibliographia Kabbalistica 942 (citing a copy with only 53 leaves).
4to (185 x 140 mm). Text in Latin with Hebrew. Woodcut title page featuring the Sefirot by Hans Burgkmayr, printed in red and black, Kabbalistic chart in Latin (44v), woodcut tailpiece (55v), without final blank. Modern drab paper boards, minor marginal staining to final 7 leaves.
THE FIRST PRINTED BOOK ON THE SEPHIROT AND THE KABBALISTIC TREE OF LIFE, INCLUDING THE FIRST PRINTED DEPICTION OF THE SEPIHROT. A highly important work by one of the greatest medieval Kabbalists, Gikatilla's "Gates of Light" (Portae Lucis) was enormously influential both within Jewish and Christian circles. Trained in both science and philosophy, and called "a master of miracles" (Ba'al ha-Nissim), Gikatilla was the prize student of Abraham Abulafia, the renowned founder of "Prophetic Kabbalah" (famed for his mystic contemplation of the Hebrew alphabet). Gikatilla's writings influenced Moses de Leon, the author of the Zohar. Isaac Luria, the originator of modern Kabbalistic thought, called Gikatilla's "Gates of Light" a key to understanding mystical studies.
Paulus Ricci, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, translated Gikatilla's Sha'arei Orah into Latin to help the Christian community understand and convert their Jewish brethren. The book was read by all the Renaissance luminaries, and Johannes Reuchlin was inspired by it to publish his celebrated De Arte Cabalistica the following year in 1517.
A complete copy of this rare and important work — opening the western world to the ideas of Kabbalah, and famously featuring the first printed depiction of the Sefirot and Kabbalistic Tree of Life (see Van Heertum, Philosophia Symbolica: Johann Reuchlin and the Kabbalah, 2005, p 61). Very rare in commerce. Scholem Bibliographia Kabbalistica 942 (citing a copy with only 53 leaves).