Title: THE SWORD OF MOSES: AN ANCIENT BOOK OF MAGIC
Author: Moses Gaster
City: London
Year: 1896 (First Edition)Binding Style: Hardcover
Illustrated: Yes
Book Details + Condition: Exceptionally scarce first edition from 1896 of Moses Gaster's THE SWORD OF MOSES: AN ANCIENT BOOK OF MAGIC, From an Unique Manuscript. With Introduction, Translation, an Index of Mystical Names, and a Facsimile. "Published for the first time" as written on the title page. English translation and original Hebrew text. "The Sword of Moses" is a 13th or 14th century Hebrew book of magic, the text of which Moses Gaster first published, along with translation and commentaries, in 1896 (this copy). Gaster himself thought the text to date from somewhere between the 4th and 11th centuries CE. The original manuscript, which was in his personal collection, is now in the British Library. The Hebrew text, which starts at what would typically be the rear of the book in a non-Hebrew volume, has a frontispiece photograph of a page from the original manuscript. In very good condition: slight shelfwear and discoloration to boards; bumped & rubbed corners and edges; pen notation on inside front board and scribble on back of last page (blank page); discoloration / age toning to front & rear endpapers; pages are otherwise clean and free of markings. An exceptional find for the occult book collector.
