Manuscript booklet, from Sefer HaShemot, lexicon of practical kabbalah. Essaouira (Mogador, Morocco), 1846.
Neat Western script. Tables and diagrams. The present manuscript contains six leaves (approx. 9 written pages), including a copying of the beginning of the work (the copyist appears to have stopped copying on the last page).
On first leaf (bound out of place), the work begins with the copyist's name and year: "This Mekor HaShemot which I copied, I… Avraham ibn Saadon of Essaouira, which I copied from Mekor HaShemot quoted by… R. Eliyahu Shapira of Poland, beginning in 1846… Avraham ibn Saadon".
Sefer HaShemot, better known as Shorshei HaShemot, is a comprehensive work on the Holy Names, with a detailed description of their functions and use in hashbaot and amulets. The work is arranged as an alphabetical encyclopedic lexicon, and includes thousands of Holy Names and kabbalistic name combinations, as well as much practical kabbalah. The core of the work was composed by the kabbalist R. Moshe Zacuto – the Ramaz, and it includes kabbalistic secrets he received from his teachers. The work of R. Moshe Zacuto was of limited scope, but it was later expanded upon significantly by R. Eliyahu Shapira. The Chida (Shem HaGedolim, Maarechet HaGedolim, entry on R. Moshe Zacuto) lists Shorshei HaShemot among his works, adding that he saw a manuscript of the work. In Maarechet Sefarim, he mentions two additional manuscripts of Shorshei HaShemot: one with many additions by R. Eliyahu Shapira, and the second: "A remarkable manuscript in quantity and quality, from Torah scholars of North Africa".
[6] leaves (9 written pages). Leaves bound out of order (beginning leaf bound as third). 22 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains. Tears and wear.
