1801 VIENNA HAGGADAH, FROM THE PRESS OF ANTON SCHMID, WITH 11 ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATIONS

HAGGADAH. Ma’aleh Bet Horin [“Ascent to the House of Freedom”] Seder Haggadah Shel Pesah. Vienna: Anton Schmid, 1801. Quarto, modern half brown morocco, marbled boards. $2500.

Lovely illustrated 1801 Vienna Haggadah, with 11 half-page copperplate engravings. Attractively bound.

Schmid was a Christian publisher of Hebrew books who benefited greatly from an 1800 ordinance prohibiting the import of Hebrew books by Jews (who were themselves excluded from the publishing business). He did employ a number of Jewish typesetters and proofreaders, mainly from Galicia, who were granted special residence permits in Vienna (Encyclopaedia Judaica, I:978). “Schmid issued a number of printings of the Haggadah utilizing the delicately engraved popular illustrations of Abraham bar Jacob [which first appeared in the Amsterdam 1695 Haggadah]… Two popular commentaries by Moses Alscheikh and Ephraim Luntschitz added to the popular illustrations made for many editions” (Karp, From the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress, 103). Among the illustrations are the famous 13-panel stages of the Seder and the ten-panel depiction of the ten plagues. Title page within decorative typographical border.

Upper two-thirds of title page mounted and remargined, with lower third supplied in a neat facsimile. Numerous skilled paper repairs/remarginings throughout text, generally not affecting text or illustrations. Expected wine stains and other signs of ritual use. A very good copy of this scarce illustrated edition, attractively bound.