Bibliography · Shabbatai Bass · R' Yaakov Emden (annotator) · 18th c. · Altona · Annotations · Printed Book · Zohar

שפתי ישינים — עותקו של רבי יעקב עמדן (יעב״ץ)

Sifte Yeshenim — annotated copy of R' Yaakov Emden (Ya'avetz)

Annotated 18th c. (printed Amsterdam, 1680) · The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary

R' Yaakov Emden (the Ya'avetz, 1698–1776) used this copy of Shabbatai Bass's Sifte Yeshenim — the first Hebrew bibliography, printed in Amsterdam in 1680 — as a working catalogue of Jewish literature, marking entries he had read and filling the margins with critical notes. His most famous annotation appears beside the entry for the Zohar on image 65 of the viewer: Emden writes that he does not believe the Zohar was composed by R' Shimon bar Yochai, pointing out that Spanish Kabbalists like the Ramban show no awareness of it — a position consistent with his lifelong opposition to Sabbateanism and his cautious approach to later Kabbalistic claims. A downloadable PDF facsimile is also available.