Seder Haggadah Shel Pesah (Order of the Passover Haggadah), Aaron Wolf Ben Benjamin Zeev Schreiber Herlingen of Gewitsch, Vienna: 1752

12 leaves (9 1/2 by 6 in.; 241 x 151 mm). Black ink on vellum, main body of the text written in Hebrew in square Ashkenazic script with nikkud (vowel points), instructions written in Yiddish in semi-cursive script without nikkud. Leaves guarded; f.5  with minor cockling at lower edge, f.6v-7r with light stains, f.10 ink bleeding slightly; gilt edges; marbled endpapers.

Shalom Sabar, "Seder Birkat ha-Mazon-Vienna, 1719/20: The Earliest Known Illuminated Hebrew Manuscript by Aaron Wolf Schreiber of Gewitsch" [Hebrew], in Shmuel Glick, ed Zekher Devar le-'Avdekha, Bar Ilan:2007; Chaya Benjamin, The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art (Jerusalem, 1987) pp. 260-263; Vivian B. Mann and Richard Cohen, "Melding Worlds: Court Jews and the Art of the Baroque" in From Court Jew to the Rothschilds, Art, Patronage and Power 1600-1800 (Munich and New York, 1996) pp. 112-119 and catalog entries 88, 89, 93, 95, 100, 101, 103, pp.170-176; Ernest M. Namenyi, "The Illumination of Hebrew Manuscripts after the Invention of Printing" in Jewish Art: An Illustrated History, C. Roth ed., (London, 1971) pp. 158-159; Haviva Peled-Carmeli, Illustrated Haggadot of the Eighteenth Century, (Jerusalem, 1983) pp 30-31 and illustration # 39, 42, 57, 67, 69, 93, 105, 109, 116; Abraham Naftali Avi Roth, "Ha-Zayar ha-Amami Aharon Schreiber Herlingen", in Yeda Am vol. 5 (1958) pp.73-79.

Ornamented with an illustrated title-page depicting the images of Moses and Aaron set against an elaborate architectural facade, three initial words illuminated in gold and outlined in red (folios 2r, 6v, 8r) as well as a pair of lions rampant illuminated in gold (f.7r); the illuminations on ff. 6v, 7r, 8r are accompanied by floral motifs executed in blue, red, green and gold leaf ; 6 half-page illustrations and 30 miniature illustrations done in grisaille: The sages seated at the table in Bnei Brak (2v); The Four Sons (3r); Abraham destroying the Idols (3v); Moses striking the Egyptian; the Israelites building the cities of Pithom and Ramses (4r); Ten illustrations, one for each of the plagues (4v); The Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea as the Jews stand on dry ground (5v); The Jews gathered around Mount Sinai to receive the Torah (6r); Two gold lions rampant (7r); Eight illustrations for the verses of the hymn "Who Knows One" (11r); Five illustrations for "Who Knows One" and for "Had Gadya" (11v); Eight illustrations for "Had Gadya" (12r); One illustration for the last verse of "Had Gadya" (12v). Original painted vellum binding, elaborately gold-tooled in a modern cloth clamshell box.

This volume is a magnificent example of the eighteenth-century revival of Hebrew manuscript illumination that began in Vienna and spread throughout Bohemia and Moravia and from there to elsewhere in Western Europe. The scribe and artist of this manuscript, Aaron Wolff Herlingen, (also known as Aaron Schreiber) is considered one of the finest Jewish calligraphers of this eighteenth century renaissance of Hebrew manuscripts. Herlingen was equally renowned for his richly decorated manuscripts as well as for his characteristic pen drawings that so successfully imitated the engravings of printed books. He was active from 1719 to 1752, primarily in Vienna, but was also known to have produced several manuscripts in Pressburg. In 1736, Herlingen was appointed scribe to the Imperial Library in Vienna, a fact that he proudly noted on the title pages of many of his signed manuscripts including the present volume. Close to fifty books have been ascribed to his hand, among them miniature prayerbooks, circumcision books, Esther scrolls, as well as several Haggadot.