Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Hagada. Magyarra Fordította Hevesi Ferenc. Zádor István Rajzaival/ Haggadah shel Pesach [SIGNED] [WITH] A Portfolio of 21 Plates, Containing all 36 Original illustrations from the Haggadah [UNIQUE]

Hevesi, Ferenc (trans.); Zádor István (illus.)

Budapest: Stemmer Ödön/ Omike Mübarátok Köre, 1924. Limited first edition. Hardcover. 1/300. Quarto. 10.5 x7.5". 115pp. [1]. Dark green soft leather-covered stiff wrappers, with gilt-stamped illustration on the front cover and gilt lettering on the spine. Top edge gilt. #17 from a limited first edition of 300 copies, numbered and signed by the illustrator on the colophon.

This beautifully produced and scarce Hungarian Haggadah for Passover was published in Budapest by OMIKE* (the Hungarian Jewish Educational Association), and is illustrated throughout by Hungarian-Jewish graphic artist and painter István Zádor. The book contains 14 expressive and striking b/w illustrations (including some full - page and some in-text) as well as a total of 16 separate illustrated initials throughout the text, each based one of the 12 tribes of Israel. There are also four small illustrations for the "4 sons". Each page is framed by with decorative motifs in orange, also by the artist. Some text throughout is highlighted in color. The text is in Hungarian and Hebrew, and includes separate title pages for Hungarian and English.

There is a small scrap of paper with handwritten text in Hungarian, laid in.

Binding with sunning to the spine, and a few light scratches to the front cover. Light rubbing to extremities. Interior with a few sporadic light stains and smudges to the margins of a few pages, with text and images unaffected. Binding and interior in very good- condition overall.

[WITH]

A unique portfolio containing all of István Zádor's original illustrations for the Haggadah. Small folio. 10x 13 1/4". Black cloth over paper boards, string-tied portfolio, housing 21 individual matted plates. The contents of this portfolio represents the entirety of Zador's illustrated work for the haggadah, all done in black ink, with ocassional red highlights, including all full page and in-text illustrations (15 plates, including the "four sons") as well as all illustrated initials (4 plates of 4 images each), and the decorative borders (2 plates). "Had Gadya" itself consists of 3 plates. The images themselves range in size from 2 1/4 x 2 1/4" for the smaller illustrated initials to 8.5x1" for the border designs, with many of the larger images measuring around 7x5". It is interesting to note that many of the images, have some type of whiteout or white paint which has been used to correct (or slightly modify) the images. The impact of this correction work can clearly be seen on the final versions of the reproduced images in the haggadah.

Portfolio with some stains and light scratches to the covers. Some rubbing, light fraying and tearing to the head and tail and along the spine. Top, bottom and side flaps, worn and sunned. Plates with some sporadic light smudges and stains in the margins of the mats, with images unaffected, still bright and vibrant. Portfolio in good-, plates in overall very good+. Binding of the haggadah, and the portfolio protected by modern mylar. Item #44988

* OMIKE ("Országos Magyar Izraelita Közművelődési Egyesület"), or the Hungarian Jewish Educational Association was founded in Budapest in 1910 by Rabbi Simon Hevesi (father of Ferenc Hevesi, the translator of this Haggadah). The organization was founded with the purpose to promote education, the arts and to modernize traditional Jewish values. The organization was ultimately shutdown during 1944, when the Nazis took control of Budapest.

References: Yaari 1977; Yudlov 2924

Hebrew title page: העתיקה לשפת הגר דר' אפרים העוועשי, רב קהל עדת ישרון סעקעשפעהערוואר, עם ציורים מאת אישטוואן זאדאר.

Price: $8,750.00