Müller, David Heinrich and Julius von Schlosser. Die Haggadah von Sarajevo. Eine Spanisch-Jüdische Bilderhandschrift des Mittelalters. [The Sarajevo Haggadah. A Spanish-Jewish illuminated manuscript from the Middle Ages].
$475
Wien: Alfred Hölder, 1898. 280 by 210 mm (11 by 8.25 inches). Original fine half leather binding with gilt decorations. Two parts bound in one: Part I with commentaries and plates, and Part II with facsimile plates of the Haggadah. VI, [1], 316 pp., XXXVIII plates and [1] title page plate; [3] pp., [35] plates. All plates with tissue guards. With its original slipcase. First edition. In German (and some Hebrew). Book plate of “Roberti Schneider” along with a thought-provoking inscription in Latin to Schneider: “Sir, if the charming Muse of Helicon is pleasing to you, do not scorn the deeds of the Ahasveric line, I ask (of you).” (trans.). Heavily illustrated throughout. Mostly two-color plates, but also four full-color ones. Very good plus. Light rubbing to the spine and boards, but overall a lovely copy.
First edition of the first scientific work on the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the most important Hebrew manuscripts of the Middle Ages. The story of how the fourteenth-century Spanish Haggadah was discovered is remarkable. Allegedly, in 1894, a child in Sarajevo brought the Haggadah to the Jewish communal infant school. His father had died, and the family needed to raise funds. The discovery soon attracted the attention of scholars worldwide, and the manuscript found its way to the Bosnian National Museum. This book was published merely four years after the manuscript’s discovery. In the 1963 edition of this book, Cecil Roth writes in the introduction the following pertaining to this first edition:
A magnificent publication was issued before long, devoted to the description and consideration of this newly found treasure. This was the product of collaboration between the Jewish liturgical expert Heinrich Müller and the non-Jewish art-historian Julius von Schlosser, their own work being supplemented by a most important excursus on medieval Jewish illuminated manuscripts generally, by the Budapest scholar-collector David Kaufmann, the only person who had hitherto studied the subject systematically.
Provenance
Collection of Felix Guggenheim. Loaned by Guggenheim in 1948 to the Jewish Book Month Committee of Los Angeles for an exhibition.
| Author | Müller, David Heinrich and Julius von Schlosser |
|---|---|
| Title | Die Haggadah von Sarajevo. Eine Spanisch-Jüdische Bilderhandschrift des Mittelalters. [The Sarajevo Haggadah. A Spanish-Jewish illuminated manuscript from the Middle Ages]. |
| Year of Publication | 1898 |
| Publisher | Alfred Hölder |
