Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Hebrew MS 32
- Source
- Manchester Digital Collections
- Library
- The John Rylands Library
- Shelfmark
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- Hebrew MS 32
- Biblissima authority file
- Language
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- Hebrew
- Title
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- Prefaces (הקדמות)
- Ets Hayyim (עץ חיים | Tree of Life)
- Agent
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- Preferred form
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- Ḥayyim ben Joseph Vital (1542-1620)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Vital, Hayyim ben Joseph, 1542-1620
- Hayyim Vital
- ויטל, חיים בן יוסף, 1542-1620
- Other form
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- Vital, Ḥayyîm ben Joseph (1542?-1620)
- Wiyṭaʾl, Ḥayyim ben Ywsep (1542-1620)
- ויטל, חיים בן יוסף
- ויטל, חיים בן יוסף
- Haïm ben Joseph Vital (1542-1620)
- Haïm ben Joseph VItal (1542-1620)
- Haïm ben Joseph Vital 1542-1620)
- Ṿiṭal, Ḥayim ben Yosef
- see more
- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Meir ben Judah Loeb Poppers (16..-1662)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Poppers, Meir ben Judah Loeb, ha-Kohen, -1662
- Meir ben Judah Leib Cohen Poppers
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Jacob ben Ḥayyim Ẓemaḥ (15..-1665?)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Jacob ben Hayyim Zemah
- Ẓemaḥ, Jacob ben Ḥayyim active 17th century
- צמח, יעקב בן חיים, 1570?-1667
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Nathan Shapira (16..?-1662)
- Role
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- Author
- Original form
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- Shapira, Natan ben Reuven David
- שפירא, נתן בן ראובן דוד
- Nathan ben Reuben David Spira
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- William Henry Black (1808-1872)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Black, William Henry, 1808-1872
- W.H. Black
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Nathan Ettingen
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Ettingen, Nathan
- Nathan Ettingen
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- Enriqueta Augustina Rylands (1843-1908)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Enriqueta Rylands
- Biblissima authority file
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- Preferred form
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- James Ludovic Lindsay (comte de Crawford, 1847-1913)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford of Haigh Hall
- Crawford, James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of, 1847-1913
- Other form
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- Lindsay, James Ludovic, Earl (1847-1913)
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford
- Lindsay, James Ludovic (1847-1913)
- James Ludovic Lindsay (b. 1847, d. 1913), peer and collector
- James Ludovic Lindsay (b. 1847, d. 1913), 26th Earl of Crawford
- Lindsay, James Ludovic, 1847-1913
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, 1847-1913
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford 1847-1913
- James Ludovic Lindsay, 1847-1913, 26th Earl of Crawford
- James Ludovic Lindsay 1847-1913, 26th Earl of Crawford
- Lindsay, James Ludovic, 1847-1913, 26th Earl of Crawford
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- Description
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- Extent:
202 ff. (202+xvi) Leaf height: 375 mm, width: 242 mm. Written height: 308 mm, width: 178 mm.
Binding:
Quarter binding with brown leather on spine and marbled paper on boards. Sewn on four raised cords.
Decoration:
Folio 10b: Concentric circles sketch with the words עיגולי אדם קדמון, א"מ, יושר אדם קדמון in reference to primordial man ("Adam Qadmon").
Folio 28b: Twice the word אב written in a decorative way with ink stripes.
Folio 48a: Tetragrammaton written in a decorative way, with small ink circles and stripes.
Folio 58a: Schematic representation of the ten sefirot, also known as the Tree of Life ("Ets Haim").
Acquisition:
Acquired by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford of Haigh Hall and later bequeathed to the The John Rylands Library.
Layout:
Long line with between 44 and 49 written lines
Collation:
Catchword at the bottom left corner of most pages.
Script:
Ashkenazi cursive script.Ashkenazi semi-cursive script for headings.Ashkenazi square script for initial words.
Data Source(s):
Description based on Alexander Samely's unpublished draft catalogue, description of decorations by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna, revised and expanded by Stefania Silvestri, Renate Smithuis and Nienke Valk.
Subject(s):
Cabala; Mysticism; Mysticism Judaism
Abstract:
Large manuscript on thick paper containing the first thirty-six gates (שערים) of Hayyim Vital’s Tree of Life, an extensive Kabbalistic work in the Lurianic tradition. The work is preceded by several prefaces by the author himself and by Meir ben Judah Leib Poppers. The main text is accompanied by glosses from several scholars, among whom Jacob ben Hayyim Zemah. The manuscript, which records several recensions of Vital’s magnum opus, is incomplete.
Foliation:
Modern pencil foliation in Arabic numerals at the top outer corner of side a of each folio, starting from fly-leaf. Second set of foliation in Arabic numerals at the bottom outer corner of side a of folios 2-11 (from 1 to 10).
Format:
Codex
Material:
Paper. Watermarks on last 15 blank folios from the paper maker Jean Villedary (1668-1758): crown shield with lily and L.V.G. and IVILLEDARY.
Provenance:
Label on spine reading "ספר הקדוש / עץ חיים".
Label on spine reading "HEBREW / 32".
Front paste-down: Handwritten note reading "Emptus a Mainbernheim / iste codex fuit. Londinis / 5 Sept. 1856. / W.H. Black".
Front paste-down: Paper label attached to paste-down with handwritten note reading "עץ חיים / Tree of life / by Hyam Vital / 1572. / N.B. This MS. / was in the posses- / sion of Rabbi / Nathan Ettingen / Chief Rabbi of / Hamborough, / Author of 28 Books / and / who wrote also / the last Page in this MS. / [...] Mainbernheim's note, / from whom I bought this MS. / 5/9/56 - WHB".
Folio 1a: Handwritten note: "ספר הקדוש עץ חיים / Codex alter Milia?censis. / Desunt hoc exemplar in Parta seu Capite 36to, sectione 2da; quae, ab alia manu / paullo progeditur usque in tertiam, ascripta. Sed 50 Portas totum opus habet, / quarum Index praefationem sequitur, fol. 5".
Back paste-down: Bookplate reading "Endure Fort. / Bibliotheca Lindesiana", with shelfmark "5 / E".
Back paste-down: Handwritten in pencil "Hebrew MSS. / No. 32".
Condition:
Part of leather on spine detaching.
Additions:
Folio 202a: Sha'ar 36, Perek 3 (incomplete) added by a later hand. According to Black this was in the hand of Rabbi Nathan Ettingen (see provenance).Folios 185a and 202a: marginal pencil note in Latin.Folio 192a: marginal note in pencil.
- Extent:
- Rights
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- Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
