FIRST EDITION OF TODROS GELLER'S RICHLY ILLUSTRATED POST-WAR VERSION OF THE TRADITIONAL PASSOVER SONG "HAD GADYA"

GELLER, Todros, illustrator and ROSENZWEIG, Efraim M., author. Had Gadya. Chicago: L.M. Stein, 1946. Octavo, comb-bound as issued, original pictorial paper boards, french-folded. $650.

First edition of this elaborate illustrated version of the passover song "Had Gadya" (One Little Goat), with striking linocut images by Jewish-American artist Todros Geller.

"Had Gadya," or "One Little Goat," is a cumulative folk song traditionally sung at the end of the Passover seder. This book edition of that song features the beautiful linocut illustrations of Todros Geller, a leading Chicago artist and printmaker who drew on his Russian-Jewish heritage to create compelling scenes of traditional Jewish life. Geller was unabashedly progressive and much of his work with publisher L.M. Stein focuses on social reform. This post-war version of the song focuses on the idea of loss and renewal as a metaphor for the Holocaust—acknowledging the sadness of the eaten cat, the beaten dog, the butchered ox, and the dead butcher, while looking forward to the idea that they will live again at each Passover seder to come. While the original version of the song is in a mix of Hebrew and Aramaic, the text has been adapted to English by Efraim M. Rosenzweig.

Slight offsetting from a few linocuts to facing page as usual, slight rubbing to board edges. A beautiful copy in very nearly fine condition.