Hammer Edition - first printed version
1725 AD published
The first printed version, also in German, dates to 1725 and was printed in Cologne by Peter Hammer.
A partial copy in Hebrew is found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and dates from around 1740.
Another 17th-century manuscript in Italian exists in the 'Legato Martinengo' of the Queriniana Library in Brescia, Italy. It was part of the collection of the Count and Qabbalist Leopardo Martinengo of Barco and Torre Pallavicina. The manuscript, unknown for centuries to international researchers until 2009, has been found by academic researcher Maria Elena Loda in the esoteric section. At the moment, it is the only known manuscript translation in the Italian language of the Abramelin grimoire.
All German copies of the text consist of four books: an autobiographical account of the travels of Abraham of Worms to Egypt, a book of assorted materials from the corpus of the practical Kabbalah (including some which is duplicated in the German-Jewish grimoire called "The Sixth and 7th Books of Moses") and the two books of magic given by Abramelin to Abraham.
An 18th century manuscript copy exists in French in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris, an institution founded in 1757. An analysis of the spelling and language usage in this manuscript is the basis of the dating and that it was also likely copied from a German original. Although the author quotes from the Jewish Book of Psalms, the version given is not from the Hebrew; rather, it is from the Latin Vulgate, a translation of the Bible employed by Roman Catholics at that time.
The well-known English translation by S.L. MacGregor Mathers from the French Manuscript in Paris contains only three of the four books. The Hebrew version in Oxford is limited to Book One, without reference to the further books.
Of all the extant sources, the German manuscripts in Wolfenbüttel and Dresden are taken by scholars to be the authoritative texts. According to respected Kabbalah scholar Gershom Scholem, the Hebrew version in Oxford was translated into Hebrew from German.
Subjects Who or What published?
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The Book of Abramelin (The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage) The story of an Egyptian...
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