A. Szyk, C. Roth | The Haggadah, [1940], number 101 of 125 vellum copies signed by Szyk and Roth

Arthur Szyk—Cecil Roth (editor).

The Haggadah, Executed by Arthur Szyk, Edited by Cecil Roth. [Watford: Sun Engraving Company for] Beaconsfield Press, Limited, [1940]

LIMITED EDITION, ON VELLUM, NUMBER 101 OF 125 NUMBERED COPIES SIGNED BY SZYK AND ROTH FOR SALE IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 4to (284 x 235 mm), printed on double-vellum sheets (two connected vellum leaves with the flesh sides facing inward) with Hebrew and English calligraphic text in variously coloured inks, fourteen full-page and numerous smaller colour halftone reproductions of Szyk's original watercolour gouaches, including embellished initials, vignettes, and border decorations; original blue crushed morocco elaborately gilt by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, covers tooled with image of a Hebrew prophet after Szyk, spine gilt in seven compartments with crown motifs, turn-ins gilt, silk doublures printed with a monochromatic illustration of Moses supporting the Ten Commandments, housed in original three-quarter morocco folding case, some minor discoloration along edges of first and final leaves (as usual)

[with, loosely inserted:] Cyril Ross, typed letter signed ("Cyril"), to Professor Samson Wright, presenting him "this gift [...] as a token of my regard for you and your work in the community", 1 page, 374 Oxford Street, 18 September 1947

This Haggadah represents the culmination of a thousand-year-old tradition of illuminated Hebrew manuscripts. Upon its publication, The Szyk Haggadah was described by the Times Literary Supplement as a book "worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has produced". Each individually illuminated text is an example of both extraordinary artistic accomplishment and of profound scholarship. The book came about as a result of collaboration between Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), the Polish refugee and internationally acclaimed illuminator, and Cecil Roth (1899-1970), the preeminent British doyen of Jewish history, who edited the text and provided an historical introduction.

Given the unfolding events in Nazi Europe, the Haggadah became, for Szyk, a personal and political statement. Dedicating his Exodus narrative to King George VI (1895-1952), Szyk acknowledged the key role that England, his temporary place of residence, had to play in Jewish survival: "At the Feet of Your Most Gracious Majesty i [sic] humbly lay these works of my hands, shewing forth the Afflictions of my People Israel. arthur szyk [sic], illuminator of Poland". Of his accomplishments, Szyk wrote in French on the page opposite the title: "I am but a Jew praying in art, and if I have worked, if I have succeeded to some degree, if I have been favourably accepted among the elite of society, I owe it all to the teachings, traditions, and eternal virtues of my people".

This book was donated to Magen David Adom and its sale will benefit the charity's continued work.

PROVENANCE:

Presented by Cyril Joshua Ross (1891-1973) to Professor Samson Wright (1899-1956), 1947. Ross and Wright were both committed Zionists and leading figures in London's Jewish community in the mid-20th century.