Knorr De Rosenroth, Cristian (translator) | A vast collection of Kabbalistic texts

Knorr De Rosenroth, Cristian (translator)

Kabbala Denudata Seu Doctrina Hebraeorum Transcendentalis Et Metaphysica Atque Theologica Opus Antiquissimae Philosophiae Barbaricae Variis Speciminibus Refertissimum... Sulzbach: A. Lichtenthaler, 1677-1678 (vol. I); Frankfurt: B.C. Wust (vol. II) pour J.-D. Zunner, 1677-1678-1684

Two volumes, 4to (194/196 x 157/165 mm). Text in Hebrew and Latin. Vol. 2 title printed in red and black. [36], 740, 312, [8], 255, [1]; [4], 38, [2], 598, [2, blank], 478, 70 pages: including frontispieces in each volume and seventeen engraved plates, sixteen of which are folding; outer margin of pages 535-536 of volume I cropped with some loss to text; occasional soiling or staining to margins, but overall a fresh copy. Contemporary vellum, manuscript titles on spines; repairs to the hinges.

First edition of this vast collection of Kabbalistic texts translated from Hebrew into Latin, meant for non-Jewish readers. It "is part of a broad project to promote Hebraica and its study. The enterprise is not insignificant at the end of the 17th century when confessional and religious rivalry reached its peak ... the Kabbalah denudata is a beautiful example of 'Christian Kabbalah', both a work of scholarship and a contribution to the philosophical and religious debate of its time" (Anna Maria Vileno, In the Shadow of the Kabbalah. Philology and Esotericism in the Seventeenth Century in the Work of Knorr by Rosenroth, Paris, Champion, 2016). Complete with the rare parts “Liber seu Port Coelorum” (end of vol.1) and the “Adumbratio Kabbalae Christianae” (end of vol. 2) often lacking (Bibliotheca Esoterica 2395).

REFERENCE:

Brunet, III, 637; Caillet, III, 5815 ("le plus complet, le plus exact, et le plus sérieux sur la Kabbale"); Wellcome, III, 405; Dorbon, 2395 (calling for 8 parts)

PROVENANCE:

Charles Benjamin Caldwell (1809-1896, bookplates)