Leaves from the Zohar – Mantua, 1558 – With Many Glosses in an Ancient Oriental Handwriting

Leaves from the Zohar – Mantua, 1558 – With Many Glosses in an Ancient Oriental Handwriting
Zohar, Part 2, Shemot [Mantua 1558]. First printing of the Zohar, after rabbis removed the ban on its printing, which lasted for the first 90 years of Hebrew printing. While it was in the process of printing, Cremona printers began printing the Zohar. The last volumes were printed in Cremona before they were printed in Mantua. The leaves offered here [removed from the "binding geniza"] contain hundreds of corrections and glosses in an ancient Oriental writing characteristic to the 16th and 17th centuries. The content of the glosses include: version corrections, commentaries and novellae, compilations from Sefer HaBahir and other books, as well as titles, summaries of content and sources. It is highly probable that the version corrections in this manuscript were done according to early manuscripts of the Zohar available in those years. According to the content of the glosses, the writer was an important Kabbalist. On Leaf 227/a is an ownership inscription from a later time, in scribal writing: “Eliyahu Evizrat”. [119] leaves and leaf fragments (originally 269 leaves). Varying size. Very poor condition, most leaves have damages to text and open tears. Major wear, dampness and glue stains. Old damaged binding.