Haggadah for Passover, Illustrated by Ben Shahn, Historical Notes by Cecil Roth, Paris and London: Trianon Press, 1966

Folio (15 1/2 x 11 7/8 in.; 395 x 303 mm). 150 (xxiv, 136) pp. Hebrew and English. Lithographed title and frontispiece; numerous color plates after Shahn's originals. Signed by Shahn on frontispiece and introduction. Contents loose as issued in original lettered parchment wrappers; title gilt; acetate overwrap. One of only ten lettered copies ("A-J"; this is copy "E") on handmade paper. Additional materials, each housed in a numbered and custom-labeled folder: 1)an original drawing from Had Gadya ("Then Came the Angel of Death" with certificate of authenticity by Shahn's wife Bernarda B[ryson] Shahn); 2) extra suite of color plates on Japanese Nacré, with signature; 3) another on Arches Grand Vélin, with signature; 4) another, uncolored, on Arches Vergé; 5) a series of twenty-five progressive plates showing the stages in the hand-stencil coloring of a plate ("The Egyptian Bondage," p.41); 6) three original guidesheets and stencils; 7)and two proof states of the lithograph frontispiece. All the folders tied within a custom burlap enclosure. The whole ensemble housed in gilt-lettered vellum folding box with brass clasps.

one of only ten lettered copies ("A-J"), and the first to be offered in over a decade

Lithuanian-born graphic artist Ben Shahn (1898-1969) originally created many of the illustrations for this Haggadah around 1930, while working on a pictorial representation of the Dreyfus case and conceiving his celebrated series of paintings of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. Shahn’s Haggadah illustrations, like those for his secular works, highlight the struggle against oppression, a theme central to the story of Passover. In 1965 Shahn reproduced these Passover drawings, which had already been acquired by the Jewish Museum, incorporating them into this extraordinary Haggadah. In the introduction, Shahn says of his Haggadah that "it reflects my memories of the Passover in my father's house. It reflects my early impressions and feelings; the images that were always invoked in my fancy by the majestic and meaningful ritual." Produced under Shahn's direct supervision, this edition of ten is a stunning work and an excellent lesson in the production of livres d'artiste.