Estate / Collection: The Margolis Collection

[HAGGADAH-AMSTERDAM]
Seder Haggadah Shel Pasah. Amsterdam: Asher Anshel Ben Eliezer Hazzan and Issachar Ber Ben Abraham Eliezer, 1695. First edition of the famed Amsterdam Haggadah. Modern half burgundy morocco. 11 5/8 x 7 1/2 inches (29.75 x 19 cm); 27 ff., folding map; engraved illustrations by Abram bar Jacob after Merian throughout, with the intricately engraved foldout map of the exodus from Egypt and the entry into the Land of Canaan present. Engraved title page trimmed at foot just touching the imprint, the verso backed, extensive toning and staining throughout, gutter margins reinforced, the folding map with a few minor stains and restorations.

The iconography of this Haggadah was incredibly influential, going on to influence the illustration of printed editions well into the 20th century. The artist Abram bar Jacob was a convert to Judaism, probably a German cleric by birth. He used copperplate engraving, and his imagery was in large part borrowed from the great Swiss engraver Matthäus Merian, though with some highly original touches, most especially in the illustration of the four sons. The engraved map at the end is a major piece of Hebrew cartography, and is the first obtainable map of the Holy Land to utilize entirely Hebrew lettering. Fuks 521; Laor 876; Yaari 59; Yerushalmi 59-62; Yudlov 93.