Manuscript, Compilation of Kabbalistic Compositions – Constantinople, 1562

Manuscript, Compilation of Kabbalistic Compositions – Constantinople, 1562
Manuscript, compilation of Kabbalistic compositions, by early Spanish Kabbalists. [Fine Sephardic script]. Constantinople, 1562.
Early manuscript containing several Kabbalistic compositions, some were never printed and some preceded the printing era. At the end of the manuscript is the scribe's colophon: "Completed by Yitzchak ben R' Ya'akov Goakil the Sephardi, G-d in his mercy should give him male sons… it was completed on the 28th of the month of Nissan in 1562 here in greater Constantinople".
The volume is composed of the following compositions:
· Marot Elokim, by Rabbi Chanoch ben Shlomo Alkostantini (Leaves 1a-20a; missing a section in the middle of the introduction). This composition was not printed.
· Brit Menucha, by Rabbi Avraham ben Yitzchak Marmon Sefarad (Leaves 20b-99b; several leaves are bound out of order. The writer copied from an incomplete manuscript of the composition, and writes at the end; "I have found until here, no more"). This composition was first printed only in 1648 (in Amsterdam).
· Sefer HaTzaruf, by Rabbi Avraham Abulafia (Leaves 100a-128a; begins in the middle of the introduction). Sefer HaTzaruf was only recently printed (Jerusalem 2004), from another manuscript.
· Various Anthologies: Explanations of G-d’s names (Leaves 128b-129a); “The Secret of the Names and the Secret of the Letters and the Secret of the Vowels and the Force of the Actions” [by Rabbi Avraham ben David of Posquières – The Ra’avad]. (Leaves 129a-135a); Kabbalistic anthologies (Leaves 135a-137a).
On the leaf margins (of Brit Menucha) are long glosses with important content, in Sephardic script, by an unidentified writer, evidently a great Kabbalist.
The scribe, Rabbi Yitzchak ben R’ Ya’akov Goakil the Sephardi, copied several manuscripts between the years 1559-1563 [see enclosed material]. This manuscript was recorded in the book Otzar HaSefarim by Yitzchak Isaac ben Ya’akov according to the list of Moshe Steinshneider.
Ancient parcment manuscript fragments in Italian-Ashkenazi writing [13th century?] from the book Amudei Golah, were used in the process of making the binding.
[137] leaves. 20 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains and wear. Worming. Detached leaves. Leather binding [Yemen], with damages.