Browsed by
Category: Book Illustrations

An Obscure Diagram in the Bomberg Shas

An Obscure Diagram in the Bomberg Shas

 An Obscure Diagram in the Bomberg Shas By Eli Genauer A recent book auction by Kestenbaum featured the following listing: AUCTION 65: JUNE 25TH, 2015LOT: 111 (TALMUD, BABYLONIAN). Masechta Sotah. With commentaries by Rashi, Tosaphoth, Maimonides and Rabbeinu Asher. FIRST BOMBERG EDITION .. ……Vinograd, Venice 27; Habermann, Bomberg 22. Daniel Bomberg, Venice: 1520.                   This Tractate contains the only appearance of a printed text illustration throughout the entire Talmud issued by Bomberg (see f. 43r). The reference to (…

Read More Read More

On the Maxwell House Haggadah

On the Maxwell House Haggadah

For contemporary American Jews, it is not an exaggeration to claim the Maxwell House Haggadah, as one of the most commonly used and widely known haggadahs. Even President Obama was aware of this history when he quipped regarding another recent haggadah “does this mean we can no longer use the Maxwell House Haggadah anymore?”   The first Maxwell House sponsored haggadah was published in 1932. [1] The Haggadah wasn’t published btwetween 1941 and 1948, but otherwise has been consistently published yearly, if…

Read More Read More

Borders, Breasts, and Bibliography

Borders, Breasts, and Bibliography

Borders, Breasts, and Bibliography By Elliott Horowitz Dan Rabinowitz has provided us which a characteristically learned pre-Passover post on the Prague 1526 Haggadah, specifically concerning the illustrations on its borders, and from those borders continues on to the always contentious subject of breasts, a bare set (or rather, two bare sets) of which he claims may be found on the title page of that edition. Indeed, on both the right and left borders of the title page may be found…

Read More Read More

A Few Comments Regarding The First Woodcut Border Accompanying The Prague 1526 Haggadah

A Few Comments Regarding The First Woodcut Border Accompanying The Prague 1526 Haggadah

A Few Comments Regarding The First Woodcut Border Accompanying The Prague 1526 Haggadah The Prague 1526 edition of the Haggadah is one of the most important illustrated haggadot ever published.  It is perhaps the earliest printed illustrated haggadah for a Jewish audience and served as a model for many subsequent illustrated haggadot.[1] The earliest printed haggadah with illustration was published in 1512 in Latin and for a non-Jewish audience. That haggadah contains six woodcuts, and was intended as a response…

Read More Read More

Halakhah and Haggadah – Manuscript Illustrations and their Halakhic and Customary Significance

Halakhah and Haggadah – Manuscript Illustrations and their Halakhic and Customary Significance

This post is part of a series of posts regarding illustrations adorning manuscript and print Haggadot. Our first post dealt with a new work on the topic and can be viewed here. In this post we will focus upon the some of the Halachik implications of these illustrations. In many Ashkenazic manuscripts, the Passover illustrations begin chronologically earlier than the Seder. Many begin with the preparation of the matzah. For example, in the Second Nuremberg Haggadah[1], (the manuscript is online…

Read More Read More

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Questions – Part II

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Questions – Part II

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND QUESTIONS – PART II (Part I) by Eli Genauer The classic Vilna Shas, published by the firm of the Widow and Brothers Romm, was completed during the years 1880-86. It was the most complete and accurate edition of the Talmud printed until that time, containing many new Peirushim and using new sources to ensure the accuracy of text. This fact was not lost on the chief editor Shmuel Shraga Feiginsohn as he states in…

Read More Read More

image_pdfimage_print