SZYK, Artur (illus.); ROTH, Cecil (ed.).

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Haggadah. First Szyk edition, number 59 of 125 copies printed on vellum, signed by both illustrator and editor, and released for sale in the United States. The most lavishly produced modern edition of the Haggadah, this was Szyk's magnum opus, drawing a striking visual parallel between the Passover narrative of oppression in ancient Egypt and the alarming development of anti-Jewish activities in Nazi Germany.The Polish-born Jewish artist Artur Szyk (1894-1951) was known in the 1930s for his political cartoons, the most famous of which depicted Hitler as an ancient Egyptian pharaoh; his art had become more politically engaged after Hitler took power in Germany in 1933. Szyk's choice of the Haggadah as a new subject, other than the artistic possibilities that it offered, was motivated by the thematic significance of the text as a reminder of past Jewish triumphs over persecution. "While the miniature paintings depict historical scenes, in the text illuminations Szyk has combined figures in historical costume, characters from the east European ghetto, and young Jewish pioneers in Palestine. These figures illustrate a continuum, making the point that the struggle for freedom cannot be relegated to the past but is very much a current and contemporary concern" (Ansell, p. 93). The monumental collection of illustrations took Szyk several years to complete. When he presented the work to potential publishers around 1937, many rejected it; this was partly due to the challenge of re

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.