Bibliographia Kabbalistica

8 ABRAHAM OF WORMS [Pseudonym?] The Jew Abraham of Worms's Book of True Practice in Ancient Divine Magic and in Amazing Things, as Communicated through the Holy Kabbalah and through Elohym original: Elohym, a Hebrew name for God . . . Encompassing all the Secrets of the Kabbalah. Translated into German original German: "verteutscht" in the 17th century from a Hebrew . . . manuscript of 1387 and published faithfully to the original text. Cologne on the Rhine, Peter Hammer, 1725.

9 — The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin [!] the Mage, as delivered by Abraham the Jew unto his son Lamech A.D. 1458. Translated from the original Hebrew into French and now rendered from the latter language into English. From a unique [!! see below!] and valuable manuscript in the “Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal” original French: "Arsenal Library" at Paris. By S. L. MacGregor Mathers.

[This is one of the most important internationally circulated magical texts. Its claim of Jewish origin does not seem far-fetched. The following manuscript versions have come to my attention: a Hebrew one in Oxford (Neubauer, Catalogue column 702) Code 2051 titled The Book of the Treasure of Kings original Hebrew: "Sefer Segullat Melakhim"; a German one in Vienna V No. 10580 [the number 89 in Steinschneider’s cited work is a typo], which is perhaps identical to the one mentioned by Kopp in The History of Alchemy original German: "die Alchemie" II, 236; an Italian one, V No. 10579; and a French one, which—in addition to the one mentioned by Mathers—is a manuscript listed by Papus in The Kabbalah original French: "la Kabbale" in Bibliography No. 49 (from the de Guaita library). The book possesses a thoroughly Jewish character. The manuscripts date back as far as the 16th century. Christian interpolations interpolations: later additions or alterations to a text are few. The two printed versions complement each other well. In general, the English-French version is superior. In that version, the magic words are always correctly written as magic squares original German: "Zauberplaketten". Mathers’s notes and introduction—both very extensive—are not without value, but must be used with great caution. The English version is somewhat more "Christianized," yet it omits specifically those interpolations found in the German version—for example, the passage on page 104 of the Berlin printing concerning Jesus, his disciples, and the Apocalypse! The chronological dates differ between the versions. Mathers is unaware of the German printing. Steinschneider, in Hebrew Translations original German: "Hebr. Übersetzungen" § 543, considers the book a forgery by a Christian impostor; however, such an author would have possessed remarkably good knowledge of Hebrew for the 15th century (when it likely originated) and even for the 16th century—see the entire fourth book, especially in the English edition, where the names are even better preserved. Book 2 is entirely missing in that edition, which is why only three books are counted there. See also Wolf III, 67; IV, 757–59; Lehmann, Superstition and Magic original German: "Aberglaube u. Zauberei" 2nd edition 1908, page 251; and Scholem in Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums Monthly Journal for the History and Science of Judaism 69, page 95.]