Beschreibung:

SEFER YETSIRAH. (Book of Creation) with commentaries by Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi [erroneously attributed to Abraham ben David of Posquières], Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, pseudo-Sa'adya Gaon and Moses Nachmanides. Mantua, Jacob ha-Kohen of Gazolo, 1562. 105 leaves, lacks unnumbered page of small diagrams between ff. 102 and 103, title within architectural woodcut border, 13 instructive woodcut diagrams (without volvelles as in some copies) and a few tables in the text. 4to, 208 x 147 mm. (8 1/8 x 5¾ in.), rebound in leather; staining and browning. Vinograd, Mantua 86; Steinschneider 3562; Zedner 13; Roest 18; Wiener 4994; Amram, p. 332 (illustrated). First edition of the Hebrew text of one of the most important kabbalistic books of Jewish metaphysics. Originally attributed to Abraham the Patriarch, later to Rabbi Akiva, it is probably the work of a Jewish Neo-Pythagorean some time between the third and the sixth century, later on supplied with significant commentaries. Sefer Yetsirah was translated into Latin by the Christian mystic G. Postel and printed even before the original Hebrew edition (Paris, 1552).