Haggadah for Passover

1966. First Edition. Signed. SHAHN, Ben. Haggadah for Passover. Paris: Trianon Press, (1966). Large folio (13 by 17 inches), unsewn as issued, original glassine wrappers, original clasped parchment box. $6500.Beautiful large limited folio Passover Haggadah, number 175 of only 228 copies (out of a total edition of 292) on Arches Vergé paper, illustrated by Ben Shahn with 21 color pictorial borders and line drawings and an additional beautiful double-page color lithograph also signed by him.Lithuanian-born graphic artist Ben Shahn executed many of the illustrations for this Haggadah around 1930, while working on a pictorial representation of the Dreyfus case and conceiving his celebrated series of paintings of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. Like those for his secular works, Shahn's Haggadah illustrations highlight the struggle against oppression, a theme central to the story of Passover. In 1965 Shahn reproduced these Passover drawings, which had already been acquired by the Jewish Museum, incorporating them into this extraordinary Haggadah. Shahn's year-long visit to Djerba, off the Tunisian coast, and his masterful calligraphy lend this Haggadah an oriental feel. Text in Hebrew and English. Only very mild discoloration to original box. A beautiful production in fine condition. (Inventory #: 125394)