Light of Qabalah, I. The Unknown Bible: The Bible as the Ancient Hebrew Wisdom System.
Surrey, England: Borchard Foundation, ND (ca. 1970?). First Edition Thus. Softcover. Quarto. 4 preliminary leaves + 206pp. Bound mimeographed sheets, secured together by metal fasteners within a card folder with typed paper title-label affixed to front cover. A serious work on the teachings of the Kabbalah and Jewish mystical lore, and in particular their application to the study of the Bible. It would appear to be one of a very small number of copies made, presumably to show to publishers and for private circulation (the only other copies we could locate are in the Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek Hamburg, and Hebrew Union College, Klau Library, Cincinnati). In later life the author published a work "Light of Qabalah. On the Unknown Secret Bible" (Schreiber,Shengold Publishing, 1989) and although we cannot say with certainty - having not compared the works - we would guess from the title that this is an early version of that work. The author, Ruth Borchard-Berendsohn (more commonly Ruth Borchard: 1910–2000) was a German born Jewish writer and patron of the arts, who fled to Britain before the Second World War, where she was interned, and then lived, for many years following her release, eventually dying in Israel. The book is undated, but judging by the binding, method of printing, etc., it probably dates from the 1960s or early 1970s. The words "A Shade of Wisdom above is Thorah" are penned under the author's name on the title page - presumably a sort of opening quote added as an afterthought. Outer folder worn, rubbed & discolored, page browned, otherwise an internally clean VG copy. Quite unusual. Item #54517
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