An Illustrated Hebrew Alphabet Chart [Frankfurt: ca. 1730]

Ink on paper, (14 ¼  x 16 ¾ in.; 365 x 425 mm). Creased at folds with a few minor holes on right side along central horizontal fold; browned; strengthened at left margin; minor wear to edges.

This extremely rare alphabet chart was designed to assist in the education of young children studying Hebrew and was probably meant to be hung in a classroom. The central panel presents all the combinations of Hebrew vowels and consonants while the texts printed above include the 23rd Psalm and a brief excerpt of the morning liturgy. Below the text a series of woodcut images depict a variety of scenes that typify Jewish observance, from left to right: lighting of candles on Hanukkah, a synagogue scene, a wedding ceremony, and the havdalah service.  Above the text are more woodcut images; in either corner, a man and a woman in typical eighteenth century Jewish dress, and in the center, a kneeling King David, with his harp beside him. This exceptional Hebrew Alphabet chart is modeled on an earlier example produced in Frankfurt, ca. 1650. In addition, several of the woodcut images included here, are also found in the 1729 edition of Sefer Minhagim published in Frankfurt, leading scholars to conclude that the present alphabet chart was produced there as well.