Bidspirit auction | GIKATILLA, YOSEPH. Sha’arei Orah [Kabbalah]. 

GIKATILLA, YOSEPH. Sha’arei Orah [Kabbalah].  FIRST EDITION. Initial letters of title within decorative vignettes, initial word of text within historiated woodcut frame. Manuscript notes on title relating the Sefiroth to corresponding Divine Names. ff. 84. Marginal paper repairs, few light stains, few leaves supplied from another copy. Modern calf. Sm. 4to. Vinograd, Riva 34. Riva di Trento, (Jacob Marcaria the Physician), (1561). R. Joseph Gikatilla (Chiquatilla) (1248-c.1325) was a disciple of the founder of the School of ”Prophetic Kabbalah, ” R. Avraham Abulafia, and close colleague of R. Moshe de Leon of Guadalajara. For centuries, Sha’arei Orah has been viewed as a first-rate guide to the systematic presentation of the Sephiroth (Divine emanations) and their code names. As an example of the both respect the text carries and its broad appeal, R. Chaim of Volozhin was known to recommend the work to his students as an important introduction to the study of Kabbalah.