The Barcelona Haggadah with Accompanying Commentary Volume, London: Facsimile Editions, 1992

Limited facsimile edition—number 47 of 550 copies stamped and signed by the British Library and the publisher—of “one of the finest illuminated Hebrew manuscripts in the British Library.”

The Barcelona Haggadah, produced in the Crown of Aragon around the year 1340, is a tour de force of medieval Hebrew manuscript illumination. Unlike other Spanish Haggadot from this era, the illustrations of the Exodus story appear not at the front or rear of the volume but in the margins of the Haggadah text itself. Gilt initial word panels, full- and half-page miniatures, and colorful marginal scrollwork interwoven with human figures, birds, hybrids, grotesques, and fabulous animals abound. Indeed, no fewer than 64 of the codex’s 161 folios are ornamented in a style known as Lineal Gothic, and from these decorations we learn about such diverse subjects as contemporary religious ritual, musical instruments, and social life. In addition to the liturgy for the Seder, the Barcelona Haggadah contains extensive supplementary material for the period from Passover through Shavuot, including numerous piyyutim (liturgical poems) of various types and lections from the Pentateuch and the Prophets, along with their Targumim. The Haggadah left Iberia before the expulsion of its Jews and journeyed through various places in Italy before being purchased at auction by the British Museum (now the British Library) in 1844.

The present lot, the result of years of research and painstaking labor, is a beautiful facsimile of the Barcelona Haggadah that attempts to reproduce every detail of the original as accurately as possible. For example, according to the publisher, “craftsmen applied metal foil leaf to each of the 105 pages where gold is found, using a unique process developed especially for these facsimiles, resulting in raised gold as in the original.” The stunning results are accompanied by an equally impressive commentary volume, edited by Jeremy Schonfield, comprising a series of scholarly essays exploring the Haggadah’s codicology, decoration, binding, provenance, and piyyutim, as well as lucid, learned translations of the entire text by Raphael Loewe, David Goldstein, and Schonfield. The two volumes come in an elegant presentation case and together make for a wonderful gift “not just for the collector but also for families to use at Passover.”

Physical Description

Facsimile Volume: 161 folios (approx. 9 7/8 x 7 1/2 in.; 248 x 190 mm) printed by offset lithography (in up to twelve inks) on special neutral pH, 160-gsm “vegetable parchment” uncoated paper, each leaf’s opacity, texture, and thickness almost matching that of the original manuscript; 128 (of the total 322) pages illuminated with lively colors, burnished gold, and silver leaf; thirty historiated initial word panels with biblical, midrashic, and ritual scenes; numerous pages framed by grotesques, beasts, humans, and foliate imagery. Profusely blind-tooled, mudejar-style fine tanned Italian morocco goatskin over boards with rounded corners; blind-tooled spine in five compartments with raised bands; the facsimile number (47) blind-stamped on the inside of the back cover using minute steel dies. With one annexed sample folio (f. 36) and one annexed dedication slip.

Commentary Volume: 175 pages (10 1/4 x 7 1/2 in.; 260 x 190 mm) printed on mould-made, 160-gsm Magnani paper, plus an unbound limitation slip stamped and signed by a representative of the British Library and Michael Falter. Profusely blind-tooled, mudejar-style fine tanned Italian morocco goatskin, matching Facsimile Volume; blind-tooled spine in five compartments with raised bands; title lettered in gilt on spine; upper edges gilt, outer and lower edges deckled; two crimson silk bookmarks.

Facsimile and Commentary Volumes presented in an elegant, goatskin-lipped hand-marbled slipcase with a matching marbled divider between them; slipcase worn in places. Accompanied by a beautifully hand-carved solid wood folding display lectern (specially designed to preserve the spine), lightly worn.

Provenance

Dr. Jules L. Whitehill (ex libris appended to annexed limitation slip)

Literature

Ana Bejarano Escanilla et al., Barcelona Haggadot: The Jewish Splendour of Catalan Gothic, trans. Sue Brownbridge (Barcelona: Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2015), 28-29.

Facsimile Editions Website (https://facsimile-editions.com/bh/)

MS London, British Library, Add. 14761 (http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?index=0&ref=Add_MS_14761)