Sefer HaZohar (le livre de la splendeur), Doctrine ésotérique des Israélites, [The Zohar Book, The Esoteric Torah of the Jewish People] – Sefer HaZohar translated into French with notes – Paris, 1906-1911 – First translation of the entire Zohar Book into a European language. Translation and comments by Jean de Pauly. Ernst Leroux Publishing House, Paris, 1906-1911. French. magnificent edition with original leather covers. A complete set, six volumes – limited edition of only 750 copies. Copy number 48/750.
magnificent edition in which the Sefer HaZohar was translated into a modern European language for the first time.
The translator, Jean de Pauly J. (1860-1903), born in Albania, was engaged in translating the Zohar in his last years, and also published parts of the Talmud in French translation. Pauly died in 1903, and this edition was revised, completed, and published posthumously by the French paper manufacturer Émile Lafuma-Giraud.
Copy no. 48 of a 750 copies edition, on a specially produced paper for this edition, bearing as a watermark the Hebrew letters “אמת”, which encompass a triangle, and the word “Zohar” in French (alongside these copies, additional copies were printed on fine papers of various kinds, as detailed on the inside of the cover of the first volume; at the end of some of the volumes, a list of “names of subscribers” was printed according to the types of copies they received). At the beginning of the first volume are two pages with Kabbalistic diagrams in Latin.
A complete six-volume set. Part One: [11] pages, [2] photo pages, 557, [1] pages. [1] leaf with an illustration of the tree of sphirot in the middle of the volume. Part Two: [7], 741, [1] pages. Part Three: [8], 492 [2] pages, Part four: [8], 321, [2] pages. Part Five: [10], 462, [8] pages. Part six: [4], 462, [5] pages. 28 cm. Overall condition good. Few stains on some pages. Signatures and drawings on the protective and cover pages of all volumes. Original leather covers, with leather spines with gilded lettering. Wear and tear on some of the covers. Overall condition good.
