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Cecil Roth (1899-1970) (editor)
Arthur Szyk (1894-1957) (illustrator)
The Haggadah
Massadah and Alumoth, Jerusalem: n.d. but c. late 1950s to early 1960s
Hardcover encased in intricately designed and jeweled silver covers
Illustrated slipcase box
Octavo, 8.75 x 7.25 inches
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Deluxe edition of Arthur Szyk’s Haggadah in elaborate silvered metal binding with raised repousse designs and inset faux jewels, and having numerous vibrant color illustrations printed on double leaves and text in both Hebrew and English.  A Haggadah is the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, with rituals and prayers involving symbolic foods, traditionally read by Jews at a Passover Seder meal.  Szyk’s illustrations are executed in a style mimicking illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, but with Art Deco stylization.

The volume is encased in a raised silvered hinged binding bordered with illustrations in each corner, and the emblems of the 12 tribes of Israel down each side.  Within the borders at the top and bottom are two Hebrew phrases, “V’yotzenu Hashem Mimitzraim,” which is recited during the Seder, and “Mahavdot L’Charot.”  Together they mean “God Brought Us Out of Egypt, From Slavery to Freedom.”  The border frames a central relief panel having jeweled stones and the Ten Commandments tablets decorated with jewels in various colors, surmounted by a jeweled crown, and surrounded by four ruby-colored oval jewels.  The rear cover has the same raised border decorations and inscriptions, except with a menorah in the center, beneath which is the Hebrew word for Israel.  The spine bears the word Haggadah in Hebrew; at the top is a raised decoration of the Ten Commandments tablets with the lions of Judah.  The book is housed within a cardboard box bearing Szyk’s illustration of the first Passover evening.

Arthur Szyk (pronounced “shick”) was a widely admired illustrator and political caricaturist, known for his illuminated manuscript style based on 16th-century miniatures as well as for his profound humanism, devoted to the ideals of democracy and Judaism.  A well-traveled man, he began studying art at the age of 15, at the Académie Julian in Paris, continued his studies in Krakow in 1913, and visited a community of artists who were Polish Jews living in Palestine the following year.  After a stint in the Polish army, he moved with his wife and family to Paris in 1921, where he remained for many years and illustrated several books in French, many on Biblical or Jewish themes, worked on major commissions from the French government and the League of Nations, and exhibited his work in one-person shows.  In 1937, he relocated to London, where he published his Haggadah in 1940, a project he had begun in the 1920s, which was dedicated to King George IV.

When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Szyk began producing anti-fascist satirical works, which he toured in North America at the suggestion of the Polish and British governments to raise awareness of the growing threat of Nazism.  In the Forties, he emigrated to the United States and became a successful illustrator in his adopted country, doing covers for magazines such as Time, Esquire and Collier’s and advertisements for U.S. Steel and Coca Cola, as well as continuing to produced illuminated books. He worked tirelessly for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.  He became an American citizen in 1948, but was investigated in 1951 by the House Un-American Activities Committee for potential Communist activities.  Although prominent citizens asserted that this was specious, the stress took its toll, and he died of a heart attack later that year.  The Arthur Szyk Society was established in California in 1991 to document and promote his legacy as an artist and champion of democratic and Jewish values.

Cecil Roth was a Jewish historian and educator, born in London.  After receiving his doctorate at Oxford in 1924, he was a reader in Jewish Studies there from 1939-1964.  Thereafter he was a visiting professor at Bar Ilan University in Israel and from 1966-69 at City University of New York. A remarkably prolific author, with over 600 items to his credit, including histories of the Jews, Roth served as editor of Encyclopedia Judaica from 1965 until his death in 1970.

References:

“Arthur Szyk, the Artist.”  Arthur Szyk Society.  1999-2004.  http://www.szyk.org/artist.html (26 October 2004).

“Cecil Roth.”  The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.  2003. http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/R/Roth-Cec.html (26 October 2004).

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