Halloween 2020

H i s t o r y , P h i l o s o p h y & R e l i g i o n 52 Fine New Acquisitions H alloween 2020 1813 Illustrated Vienna Haggadah, From The Press Of Anton Schmid 50. (HAGGADAH) Haggadah: Ma’aleh Bet Horin. [“Ascent to the House of Freedom”]. Vienna, 1813. Quarto, modern half brown morocco. $5500. Click for more info Handsome 1813 illustrated Haggadah, with 11 copperplate engravings. With various commentaries, including Isaac Abrabanel’s seminal Zevah Pesah. 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 several 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, 103). Among the illustrations are the famous 13-panel stages of the Seder and the ten-panel depiction of the ten plagues. Occasional wine stains and signs of use, as often. Library inkstamp on title page. Light scattered foxing, binding attractive. A lovely illustrated Haggadah.