Auction 100 – Important Hebrew Manuscripts and Books from the Victor (Avigdor) Klagsbald Collection
Sefer HaGilgulim – Frankfurt, 1684 – First Edition – Signature of Rabbi "Shmuel Kohen Schotten"
Opening: $1,000
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000
Sold for: $3,500
Including buyer's premium
Sefer HaGilgulim, kabbalistic teachings of the Arizal, by R. Chaim Vital. Frankfurt: David Grünhut, 1684. First edition.
The book is based on the writings of R. Yaakov Tzemach, and was edited by R. Meir Poppers. During a conference of Frankfurt rabbis in 1682, a ruling was issued prohibiting the publisher R. David Grünhut to distribute Sefer HaGilgulim "due to danger", but the publisher did not heed the warning and printed the book in 1684. In the "printer's foreword", on verso of the title page, the publisher condemns the decision to forbid the printing of the book, supporting his claim by naming various kabbalah books which were previously printed in Frankfurt with the approbation of prominent Frankfurt rabbis (see further: R. Mordechai HaLevi Horowitz, Rabbanei Frankfurt, Jerusalem 1972, pp. 64-66).
At top of title page, signature in early Ashkenazic script: "Shmuel Kohen Schotten" – this is the name of the famous Torah scholar R. Shmuel Kohen Schotten, the Maharsheshach (1644-1719), author of Kos Yeshuot, a Frankfurt rabbi and a leading Ashkenazi Torah scholar of his generation, grandfather of the Chatam Sofer. It is not clear whether the present signature is his own or that of a relative.
[1], 45 leaves. 18 cm. Browning of paper to some leaves. Fair condition. Stains. Open tears across margins of title page and many other leaves, affecting text, repaired with paper filling. New binding.
CB, no. 4715,2.
Kabbalistic Books
Kabbalistic Books