Seder Hagadah shel Pesah, ke-Minhag Ashkenaz u-Sefarad [FIRST EDITION OF THE AMSTERDAM HAGGADAH]
Amsterdam: Be-veit ha-meshutafim [Asher Anshil ben Eliezer ve-Yisakhar Ber ben Avraham Eliezer]/ Moses Wiesel, 1695. First edition. Hardcover. Small folio (30 by 18.8 cm). Collation: [aleph]-[vav]4 [zayin]2 (= 26 numbered leaves). Full period brown paper boards, re-backed with a brown leather spine, with raised bands.
Letterpress title-page with ornate floral woodcut device; additional engraved title-page (mounted) depicting Moses and Aaron, along with six small biblical scenes within round borders, all against an architectural background. Engraved folding map at rear (mounted); main title with woodcut vignette; 14 half-page engraved illustrations in the text.
This gorgeously illustrated work is the first edition of the famous and highly influential Passover Haggadah, printed in Amsterdam in 1695. Simply known as the Amsterdam Haggadah, this edition stands as among the most imitated and copied haggadahs in history, and was the first to be illustrated with copperplate engravings. Previous illustrated haggadahs had used woodcuts. The popularity of these illustrations can be attested by the huge numbers of reprint editions over the centuries. There are 14 finely printed large in-text engravings, plus the full page engraved title page showing Moses, Aaron, and Adam in the Garden of Eden. Some of these images illustrate the traditional content of the Passover seder, and/or the exodus story, while some are other biblical stories, less directly related. Images include: the Rabbis of Bene Brak discussing the Passover story, the four sons, Abraham smashing the idols of his father, Abraham welcoming the three angels, Moses slaying the Egyptian overseer, the rescuing Moses from the river, Moses and Aaron coming to Pharaoh (w/ staves turning to snakes), the ten plagues, the Egyptian army drowning in the Red Sea, the Exodus, the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, the eating of the Pascal Lamb, King David composing his psalms, and finally an exterior view of the Holy Temple with the cityscape of Jerusalem in the background. All images are captioned underneath with relevant passages in Hebrew. The engravings were all created by Abraham ben Jacob, a German convert to Judaism who had moved to Amsterdam, (although some sources over the years misattributed them to financier Moses Wiesel) 6 of which were adaptations and/or modifications of previous images by Swiss artist Matthäus Merian (1593-1650), from his original work "Icones Biblicae" (1625-30).
In addition to the in text engravings, there is famously a phenomenal fold-out engraved biblical map of the holy land. Measuring a total of 19.5x11.5", the map shows the land of Israel, the Sinai desert and Egypt in landscape orientation looking eastward towards the top of the map. It traces the journey of the Israelites starting with the Exodus from Egypt, through the desert, and into the Land of Israel. The map is detailed, showing the areas of the twelve tribes, important locations and cities as well as geographic features including the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee and many others. The map is decorated with additional illustrations near the bottom and includes a key. This beautiful work, also by Abraham ben Jacob, is considered among the earliest, if not the first map of its kind to be printed within a Hebrew publication. It is now known to have been heavily based on the previously printed 1620 map, in Hebrew, by Jacob ben Abraham Zaddiq and Abraham Goos (1590 – ca. 1643), which itself was based on the map of 1590 by Christian Kruik van Adrichom (Adrichem), printed in Latin.
Text throughout is printed in Hebrew, with smaller text in Rashi script underneath, containing famous commentary on the Passover Haggadah by acclaimed Portuguese Rabbi and scholar Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel (1437–1508). The verso of the title page contains the order of the Passover seder with brief instructions in both Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) and Yiddish (Judeo-German), a nod to the subtitle of Haggadah which references the both Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions.
This copy with binding in beautiful condition, with being professionally restored, includining spine re-backed to style. Book block tight. Interior with some staining to pages throughout from use. Binding in very good+ to near fine, inteiror in good condition overall. g to near fine. Item #55736
Hebrew title: סדר הגדה של פסח כמנהג אשכנז וספרד
Alternate transliterations: Seder Hagadah shel Pesah, Seder Hagadah sel Pesah
References: Friedberg 278, Fuks (HTN) II 521; Yudlov (Haggadah) 93; Vinograd Amsterdam 627; Ya’ari no. 59; Laor 876 (Map); Nebenzahl pp.138-1389 (Map); Yerushalmi plate 59-62; Rosenau, "Vision of the Temple", p.135, 146-7.
Price: $10,000.00