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[4], LXXIX, [1] leaves. (A4, B-N6, O8). In Latin with some Hebrew. Large woodcut device on title-page. (folio) 12¼x8¼, period half blind-tooled pigskin & wooden boards, metal clasps, paper label with "Ionnes" in ink on front cover. First Edition.

The first major work of Christian Cabalism by the German humanist and scholar of Greek and Hebrew Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), introducing the Cabala to the Christian Renaissance. Contrary to many of his contemporaries, who thought that the first step to the conversion of the Jews was to take away their books, Reuchlin felt the Cabala might be of service for the defence of Christianity and the reconciliation of science with the mysteries of faith. It is possible that another work may have been removed from the binding. Adams R-381; Proctor 11685; Wellcome 5436.