First Printing of the Zohar Hakadosh!
Mantua, 1558-1560
Remarkable Beautiful Set!
First edition set of Sefer HaZohar by the holy Tanna Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
Beautiful set with extra-wide margins.
The Mantua edition of the Zohar is regarded as the most precise version of this fundamental work, and it was studied in depth by the Arizal and his disciples.
Printing of the Zohar
On Rosh Chodesh Iyar, 5318 (1558), the Mantua Press commenced the monumental project of printing the Zohar Hakadosh, which is the foundation of the study of kabbalah. The great kabbalists of the era regarded the printing of Zohar and its exposure to the masses as a heavenly sign that the merits accumulated from its study would lead the Jewish people out of exile and that “it will be for us as a shield in the coming trying generations, to grasp onto with a complete heart to our Father in heaven” (Rabbi Chaim Vital’s preface to Eitz Chaim).
There is no doubt that this first printing of Zohar prompted a revolution in the study of the Hidden Torah and left a permanent mark on the Jewish world at large. It is also difficult to ignore the connection between the printing of the Zohar and the descent of the Arizal’s soul into the world during that generation.
Notwithstanding, there were Rabbanim and scholars at the time who protested the dissemination of kabbalah, a factor that caused the printing to stretch over an extended period of time. The first volume features a lengthy halachic ruling by Chacham Rabbi Yitzchak De Latish who wrote that it is not only permissible to print the Zohar, but that it is also a mitzvah to do so and connects it to the hastening of the final redemption.
The present sefer thus symbolizes the historic delivery of the wisdom of kabbalah to the Jewish nation at large!
Manuta, 1558-1560.
Volume 1: Bereishis: [8], 251 leaves;
Volume 2: Shmos: 269 leaves;
Volume 3:Vayikrah: 115 leaves;
Volume 4:Bamidbar–Devarim: [2], 118-300 leaves.
Page Size: 24 cm. Description: The margins of this set are significantly larger than margins in standard copies. The margins in Vol. 1 were professionally expanded in order to make it consistent with the other volumes.
Vol. 2 restorations on title page, following page and last page and has several stains in the margins. Vol. 3 professional restorations of several miniscule holes in the margins of the last pages and several stains in the margins.
All four volumes are bound in attractive new binding and case.
Owners’ signatures in Italian style handwriting in Vol. 2-3. “This came to my portion, the youth Avraham Norchi”, who may have been the father of Rabbi Yedidya Shlomo Norchi, author of Minchas Shai (who lived during this era).
Bibliography: Stefansky, Sifrei Yesod# 324
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