THE EARLIEST ILLUSTRATED HAGGADAH, PRINTED BY GERSHOM COHEN AT PRAGUE. [REVIEW COPY, SLIP LAID IN]

London; Barmerlea Book Sales Ltd, 1940. 1st edition. Original Publishers cloth, 4to, 61 + 7 pages. 29 cm. Number 48 of 200 numbered copies. Publisher's review slip laid in.‘The Earliest Illustrated Haggadah, printed by Gershom Cohen at Prague. Discovered and described by L. Goldschmidt. Translated from the German manuscript by Immanuel Goldschmidt. 200 numbered copies printed in Great Britain. No 48.' With 7 full page plates at rear, protected by tissue guards. Original blue cloth with gold lettering on spine. Gold top edge. An account of the Prague Haggadah with details of its publishing and composition history, as deduced from two slightly dissimilar editions. "The continuous record of the illustrated printed Haggadah begins with the Prague edition of 1526. This magnificent work, with its profuse marginal cuts and decorations and its superb borders, is among the finest productions of the 16th-century press. The beauty of the work lies above all in the disposition of the type and the exquisite balance of the pages. Its most remarkable feature is three pages with engraved borders in monumental gothic style. The printers and publishers were Gershom Solomon Kohen Katz and his brother Gronem (Geronim) . The artistic work was apparently executed partly by ? Ayyim Sha? Or (Schwartz) , Gershom Kohen's collaborator, who sometimes signed his initials, and partly by a gentile assistant. Some of the decorative features were derived from non-Jewish works, including the Nuremberg chronicle of 1484. In recent years the Prague Haggadah has been reproduced repeatedly in facsimile. The cuts and illustrations in the publication were long imitated, deteriorating progressively as the years went by. The Prague edition of 1556 retained some of the original elements but this was not the case with the one published in 1590 or with other commonplace editions that continued to appear in Prague and elsewhere down to the mid-18th century. An interesting new edition, apparently by ? Ayyim Sha? Or, appeared in Augsburg in 1534. This, however, had little influence and only one complete copy is preserved. " (EJ, 2007; Haggadah, Passover) Lazarus Goldschmidt (1871-1950) , was a "scholar, bibliophile, and translator of the Talmud into German. " (EJ, 2007) . Subjects: Haggadah. Manuscripts, Hebrew - Facsimiles. Jewish illumination of books and manuscripts. Judaism - Liturgy - Texts. Passover - Prayer-books and devotions. Seder - Liturgy - Texts. OCLC: 1052863. Light shelf wear to cloth, Very Good Condition. Beautiful review copy! (HAG-10-24).