Bidspirit auction | Totza'os Chaim — An Abridgment

Totza'os Chaim — An Abridgment of Reishis Chochmah by Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas, with Extracts from Shnei Luchos HaBris (the Shelah HaKadosh). Amsterdam, Printed by Immanuel Benveniste, 1650. - An important and rare ethical work, based on the foundational Reishis Chochmah by the kabbalist Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas, a disciple of the Ramak. The title page bears the intriguing announcement: “R.Ch. [Reishis Chochmah] Totza'os Chaim, behold, this is a new thing...” The particular significance of this copy lies in the final ten leaves, which contain extracts from Shnei Luchos HaBris by Rabbi Yeshayah Horowitz (the Shelah HaKadosh), printed here very shortly after that work’s first appearance, only about a year after its original publication in Amsterdam. An early and uncommon edition, printed at the renowned Benveniste press in Amsterdam, one of the most important centers of Hebrew printing in the seventeenth century. 48 leaves. 14.5 cm. Very good condition. Minor staining.