Hardcover
1810 · Amsterdam
by (Liturgy: Jewish; Passover; Haggadah)
Amsterdam: by the Widow and Son of Jacob Proops, 1810. Fourth edition. Hardcover. Good. Two parts, small folio (25 by 19.5 cm). Date at engraved title: [5]570 (= 1810); Chronogram at letterpress title: [5]575 (= 1815). Collation: [pi]2 [aleph]-[dalet]2 [he]1; [aleph]-[kaf he]2 (= 61 leaves). [2, engraved title within elaborate architectural borders; letterpress title with woodcut printer's device and decorative border], 9, 50 ff; 11 large-format engravings in the text, with Hebrew captions; large folding engraved map (48 by 26 cm; minor, strictly marginal tear along right edge). Contemporary half calf over paper covered boards (rear board lacks marbled outer layer). Light dampstain in top half appears about midway through text, extending downwards and becoming a more pronounced in later leaves (engravings largely unaffected); tear at inner margin leaf 48, resulting in the loss of a few letters recto and verso, else a good, complete copy with a very good map.
Fourth edition of this famous illustrated Haggadah. Opening with a summary of the laws pertaining to the Seder, this edition includes the famous commentary by the Portuguese rabbi and scholar Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel (1437–1508). A translation into Yiddish has been added, and appears in a smaller font beneath the Hebrew text. As noted at the title page, this Yiddish version was prepared by David Friedlander and Joel Löwe (1760-1802), and had earlier been printed at Berlin. Among those who assisted Moses Mendelssohn with his biblical commentaries (the "bi'urim"), Löwe was commonly known by his pen name Joel Bril (an acronym for "the son of rabbi Israel Löb"). He is best known for his critical commentary on the Psalms (1788), and was the first to translate the Haggadah into German (1785).
Originally published in 1695 (and re-issued in the same format in 1712), the Amsterdam Haggadah is the first Passover Seder manual to be illustrated with copperplate engravings, rather than woodcuts. The 1695 edition contains fourteen large-format illustrations, along with an engraved folding map of the Holy Land. The engravings, which illustrate the traditional content of the Passover seder and the story of the Exodus from Egypt, were created by Abraham ben Jacob, an artist from the Rhineland who embraced Judaism in Amsterdam about 1690. "It is somewhat ironic that these illustrations, which were destined to be copied and imitated more than those of any Haggadah in history, were themselves borrowed from a Christian" (Yerushalmi). The Icones Biblicae (1625-1630), a four volume collection of biblical engravings by the Swiss artist Matthaeus Merian, the elder (1593-1650) provided the models for most of the illustrations in the Amsterdam Haggadah. Like Merian, Abraham ben Jacob broke with the long-standing tradition of woodcut illustrations for religious texts, and in so doing "widened the scope of Jewish book illustration by introducing skills acquired from non-Jews" (Rosenau).
With the third edition of 1781, the format of the Amsterdam Haggadah is reduced from a folio to a quarto and "Ma'aleh Beit Horin" (Ascending to the House of the Free) now appears at the head of the letterpress title. Three additional commentaries are added: Gevurot Ha-Shem (The Mightly Deeds of the Lord), by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague (ca. 1525-1609); a commentary attributed to the sixteenth-century Safed exegete and mystic Moses Alshekh; and selections form the Olelot Ephraim, a collection of ethical homilies by Ephraim Solomon ben Aaron of Luntschitz (Lenczycza; d. 1619). While in fact a small folio, the present edition, like the 1781 quarto, is a notably more compact book than the 1695 and 1712 editions. It closely reproduces the engraved title page of 1781, and contains the same suite of engraved plates, including two notable illustrations which make their first appearance in 1781: a tableau of thirteen engravings which illustrate the order of the seder; and a tableau of the Ten Plagues. The nine other engravings depict: the Rabbis of Bene Brak discussing the Passover story; the Four Sons; Abraham welcoming the three angels; Moses slaying the Egyptian overseer; the Exodus; the Plague of Frogs; the Egyptian army drowning in the Sea; the Seder meal with the Paschal Lamb; King David composing the Psalms.
As in the earlier editions, there is a famous engraved folding map of the Holy Land (sheet = 30.4 by 50 cm. / printed surface = 26.1 by 47.8 cm.). The map is printed in a landscape format, oriented to the east. The caption clearly indicates the content: the path of the forty-years wandering through the wilderness; the breadth and length of the Holy Land -- mi-Nahar Mitzrayim ad ir Dameshek, mi-Nahal Arnon ad ha-Yam ha-Gadol / from the River of Egypt to the City of Damascus, from the Valley of Arnon (in Moab, present-day Jordan) to the Mediterranean Sea; the territories allotted to each of the Israelite tribes. A legend within a scrolled frame lists each of the forty-one way stations of the Israelites. The name of the engraver, Abraham ben Jacob, appears along the bottom border. Ben Jacob's map is directly based upon a map drawn by Jacob ben Abraham ha-Tsadik, a Dutch cartographer and preacher who, like Abraham ben Jacob, chose to embrace Judaism. His map was engraved by the Dutch cartographer, Abraham Goes (ca. 1594-1643), and published at Amsterdam in 1621. Believed to be "the first printed Hebrew map" (Laor), it was itself based upon the Situs Terrae Promissionis (Sites of the Promised Land), a map prepared by the priest, surveyor, and theological writer, Christiaan Kruik van Adrichem of Delft (or Adrichom; 1533-1585) for his Theatrum Terrae Sanctae (Theater of the Holy Land), first published at Köln in 1590.
A note on the printers: Founded in 1704, the House of Proops "provided three generations of distinguished Hebrew printers in the Dutch capital" (Yerushalmi). The Amsterdam Haggadah of 1712 was printed by Solomon ben Joseph Proops; after Solomon's death, his three sons continued the press in partnership until 1773, when they each set up their own printing establishment. One of the sons, Jacob ben Solomon, died shortly before the 1781 Amsterdam Haggadah was issued. His widow and children, however, continued the press. The present edition notes in the imprint on the letterpress title page: "at the house and the press of the widow and son of the deceased... Jacob Proops" (be-veit u-ve-defus almanah u-vena me-ha-manoah... Ya-akov Props).
Provenance and annotations: Penned within a circular decorative border and mounted at the front paste-down is an elaborate manuscript gift inscription in Hebrew on the occasion of the marriage of Mordechai ben Ari of Hilveren Beak (Hilvarenbeek) and Pradkhe bat Shemihu, dated [5]571 (1911). Dated manuscript annotations (1826-1917) in Dutch and Hebrew appear on four pages (bound-in) at the end, the first of which notes "Hilvaren Beek 1826" at the top margin; no fewer than fifteen family events are recorded including the marriage of Marcus Lion and Betsy Wolf at Bergen op Zoom in May, 1915, and the birth of "Mijn dochter Alida" (my daughter Alida) on January 1917. These final two family notes are recorded in both Hebrew and Dutch. The inscriptions indicate that the family resided in Hilvarenbeek throughout these years.
A note regarding the publication date(s): The present edition has two title pages. The first is engraved (and very closely matches that of the 1791 edition). The date is presented in standard format (tav-kuf-ayin), with a numerical value of [5]570 (1810); the letterpress title page has the chronogram "ha-sha'ar" (he-shin-ayin-resh) in a larger type face, with a numerical value of [5]575 (1815). The standard bibliographies (Ya'ari; Yudlow; Vinograd) each note 1810 and 1815 editions. None, however, provide enough detail to distinguish between the editions, and none note a difference in the title page dates. Only Yudlow 526 (ed. 1810; [2], 9, 50 ff.) offers enough detail of the foliation to indicate that there are in fact two leaves (titles) preceding the opening of the text. From the online sources, only the description of the microfilm copy via Yiddish Publications from the Netherlands confirms the separately dated title pages: Titelblatt "Seder hagadah shel pesah" Ersch.-verm.: [5]570 [1809/1810]; 2. Titelblatt "Maʿaleh bet horin ve-huʾ Seder hagadah shel pesah" Ersch.-verm.: [5]575 [1815]. We suspect that there is only one edtion. Perhaps the letter 'he' in the letterpress chronogram aught to have been printed in a smaller type face, like the rest of the passage. This would then have yielded a date of [5]570 (1810), like that on the engraved title. And it may that in some cases both title pages are not present, which would lead to confusion on this point. Hebrew title (letterpress) and imprint: מעלה בית חורין והוא סדר הגדה של פסח ... באמשטרדם בבית ובדפוס אלמנה ובנה מהמנוח צהר׳׳ר יעקב פרופס כ׳׳ץ זצ׳׳ל
References: M. Gutschow, Inventory of Yiddish Publications from the Netherlands (Leiden, 2007) YBN-93; Vinograd 2390 (ed. 1810), -- 2432 (ed. 1815); Ya'ari 370 (ed. 1810); 387 (ed. 1815); Yudlow 526 (ed. 1810; [2], 9, 50 ff.), -- 551 (ed. 1815; folio, 50 ff., "with the laws of Passover" [i.e., an additional 9ff., with separate register, as in our copy]. Cf. Fuks/Fuks-Mansfeld 517 (ed. 1695); Laor 876 (map), -- 7 (1590 map by Adrichem). -- 892 (1621 map by Jacob b. Abraham ha-Tzadik) -- p. 179, note on b. Abraham; Nebenzahl, pp.138-139 (map); H. Rosenau, Vision of the Temple, pp.135,146-7 (iconography). Y.H. Yerushalmi, Haggadah and History, pl. 62 (ed. 1695); pl. 69 (map). (Inventory #: 54369)
Fourth edition of this famous illustrated Haggadah. Opening with a summary of the laws pertaining to the Seder, this edition includes the famous commentary by the Portuguese rabbi and scholar Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel (1437–1508). A translation into Yiddish has been added, and appears in a smaller font beneath the Hebrew text. As noted at the title page, this Yiddish version was prepared by David Friedlander and Joel Löwe (1760-1802), and had earlier been printed at Berlin. Among those who assisted Moses Mendelssohn with his biblical commentaries (the "bi'urim"), Löwe was commonly known by his pen name Joel Bril (an acronym for "the son of rabbi Israel Löb"). He is best known for his critical commentary on the Psalms (1788), and was the first to translate the Haggadah into German (1785).
Originally published in 1695 (and re-issued in the same format in 1712), the Amsterdam Haggadah is the first Passover Seder manual to be illustrated with copperplate engravings, rather than woodcuts. The 1695 edition contains fourteen large-format illustrations, along with an engraved folding map of the Holy Land. The engravings, which illustrate the traditional content of the Passover seder and the story of the Exodus from Egypt, were created by Abraham ben Jacob, an artist from the Rhineland who embraced Judaism in Amsterdam about 1690. "It is somewhat ironic that these illustrations, which were destined to be copied and imitated more than those of any Haggadah in history, were themselves borrowed from a Christian" (Yerushalmi). The Icones Biblicae (1625-1630), a four volume collection of biblical engravings by the Swiss artist Matthaeus Merian, the elder (1593-1650) provided the models for most of the illustrations in the Amsterdam Haggadah. Like Merian, Abraham ben Jacob broke with the long-standing tradition of woodcut illustrations for religious texts, and in so doing "widened the scope of Jewish book illustration by introducing skills acquired from non-Jews" (Rosenau).
With the third edition of 1781, the format of the Amsterdam Haggadah is reduced from a folio to a quarto and "Ma'aleh Beit Horin" (Ascending to the House of the Free) now appears at the head of the letterpress title. Three additional commentaries are added: Gevurot Ha-Shem (The Mightly Deeds of the Lord), by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague (ca. 1525-1609); a commentary attributed to the sixteenth-century Safed exegete and mystic Moses Alshekh; and selections form the Olelot Ephraim, a collection of ethical homilies by Ephraim Solomon ben Aaron of Luntschitz (Lenczycza; d. 1619). While in fact a small folio, the present edition, like the 1781 quarto, is a notably more compact book than the 1695 and 1712 editions. It closely reproduces the engraved title page of 1781, and contains the same suite of engraved plates, including two notable illustrations which make their first appearance in 1781: a tableau of thirteen engravings which illustrate the order of the seder; and a tableau of the Ten Plagues. The nine other engravings depict: the Rabbis of Bene Brak discussing the Passover story; the Four Sons; Abraham welcoming the three angels; Moses slaying the Egyptian overseer; the Exodus; the Plague of Frogs; the Egyptian army drowning in the Sea; the Seder meal with the Paschal Lamb; King David composing the Psalms.
As in the earlier editions, there is a famous engraved folding map of the Holy Land (sheet = 30.4 by 50 cm. / printed surface = 26.1 by 47.8 cm.). The map is printed in a landscape format, oriented to the east. The caption clearly indicates the content: the path of the forty-years wandering through the wilderness; the breadth and length of the Holy Land -- mi-Nahar Mitzrayim ad ir Dameshek, mi-Nahal Arnon ad ha-Yam ha-Gadol / from the River of Egypt to the City of Damascus, from the Valley of Arnon (in Moab, present-day Jordan) to the Mediterranean Sea; the territories allotted to each of the Israelite tribes. A legend within a scrolled frame lists each of the forty-one way stations of the Israelites. The name of the engraver, Abraham ben Jacob, appears along the bottom border. Ben Jacob's map is directly based upon a map drawn by Jacob ben Abraham ha-Tsadik, a Dutch cartographer and preacher who, like Abraham ben Jacob, chose to embrace Judaism. His map was engraved by the Dutch cartographer, Abraham Goes (ca. 1594-1643), and published at Amsterdam in 1621. Believed to be "the first printed Hebrew map" (Laor), it was itself based upon the Situs Terrae Promissionis (Sites of the Promised Land), a map prepared by the priest, surveyor, and theological writer, Christiaan Kruik van Adrichem of Delft (or Adrichom; 1533-1585) for his Theatrum Terrae Sanctae (Theater of the Holy Land), first published at Köln in 1590.
A note on the printers: Founded in 1704, the House of Proops "provided three generations of distinguished Hebrew printers in the Dutch capital" (Yerushalmi). The Amsterdam Haggadah of 1712 was printed by Solomon ben Joseph Proops; after Solomon's death, his three sons continued the press in partnership until 1773, when they each set up their own printing establishment. One of the sons, Jacob ben Solomon, died shortly before the 1781 Amsterdam Haggadah was issued. His widow and children, however, continued the press. The present edition notes in the imprint on the letterpress title page: "at the house and the press of the widow and son of the deceased... Jacob Proops" (be-veit u-ve-defus almanah u-vena me-ha-manoah... Ya-akov Props).
Provenance and annotations: Penned within a circular decorative border and mounted at the front paste-down is an elaborate manuscript gift inscription in Hebrew on the occasion of the marriage of Mordechai ben Ari of Hilveren Beak (Hilvarenbeek) and Pradkhe bat Shemihu, dated [5]571 (1911). Dated manuscript annotations (1826-1917) in Dutch and Hebrew appear on four pages (bound-in) at the end, the first of which notes "Hilvaren Beek 1826" at the top margin; no fewer than fifteen family events are recorded including the marriage of Marcus Lion and Betsy Wolf at Bergen op Zoom in May, 1915, and the birth of "Mijn dochter Alida" (my daughter Alida) on January 1917. These final two family notes are recorded in both Hebrew and Dutch. The inscriptions indicate that the family resided in Hilvarenbeek throughout these years.
A note regarding the publication date(s): The present edition has two title pages. The first is engraved (and very closely matches that of the 1791 edition). The date is presented in standard format (tav-kuf-ayin), with a numerical value of [5]570 (1810); the letterpress title page has the chronogram "ha-sha'ar" (he-shin-ayin-resh) in a larger type face, with a numerical value of [5]575 (1815). The standard bibliographies (Ya'ari; Yudlow; Vinograd) each note 1810 and 1815 editions. None, however, provide enough detail to distinguish between the editions, and none note a difference in the title page dates. Only Yudlow 526 (ed. 1810; [2], 9, 50 ff.) offers enough detail of the foliation to indicate that there are in fact two leaves (titles) preceding the opening of the text. From the online sources, only the description of the microfilm copy via Yiddish Publications from the Netherlands confirms the separately dated title pages: Titelblatt "Seder hagadah shel pesah" Ersch.-verm.: [5]570 [1809/1810]; 2. Titelblatt "Maʿaleh bet horin ve-huʾ Seder hagadah shel pesah" Ersch.-verm.: [5]575 [1815]. We suspect that there is only one edtion. Perhaps the letter 'he' in the letterpress chronogram aught to have been printed in a smaller type face, like the rest of the passage. This would then have yielded a date of [5]570 (1810), like that on the engraved title. And it may that in some cases both title pages are not present, which would lead to confusion on this point. Hebrew title (letterpress) and imprint: מעלה בית חורין והוא סדר הגדה של פסח ... באמשטרדם בבית ובדפוס אלמנה ובנה מהמנוח צהר׳׳ר יעקב פרופס כ׳׳ץ זצ׳׳ל
References: M. Gutschow, Inventory of Yiddish Publications from the Netherlands (Leiden, 2007) YBN-93; Vinograd 2390 (ed. 1810), -- 2432 (ed. 1815); Ya'ari 370 (ed. 1810); 387 (ed. 1815); Yudlow 526 (ed. 1810; [2], 9, 50 ff.), -- 551 (ed. 1815; folio, 50 ff., "with the laws of Passover" [i.e., an additional 9ff., with separate register, as in our copy]. Cf. Fuks/Fuks-Mansfeld 517 (ed. 1695); Laor 876 (map), -- 7 (1590 map by Adrichem). -- 892 (1621 map by Jacob b. Abraham ha-Tzadik) -- p. 179, note on b. Abraham; Nebenzahl, pp.138-139 (map); H. Rosenau, Vision of the Temple, pp.135,146-7 (iconography). Y.H. Yerushalmi, Haggadah and History, pl. 62 (ed. 1695); pl. 69 (map). (Inventory #: 54369)
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