The Statute of Kalisz

SZYK, ARTHUR

F. Bruckmann for Editions de lat Table Ronde, Paris

Munich

Complete set of 45 exquisite full-page colored plates, magnificently composed by Szyk. Highly detailed miniatures, calligraphy, border decorations, elaborate geometric patters, all profusely embellished. Accomplished on light-brown “antique” paper. Text of the Statute of Kalisz rendered into seven languages: Polish, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, and Yiddish. Originally issued with plates loose, this copy with each plate expertly placed onto tabs. Binding: Burgundy morocco, upper cover with central medallion depicting the Publisher’s symbol of King Arthur and his Knights. Limited Edition, this copy unnumbered. Book-plate removed from initial paste-down, otherwise entirely unblemished. Folio

The Statute of Kalisz. A Mint Copy. Richly Illustrated by Szyk and displaying extraordinarily high production values, The Statute of Kalisz is perhaps, Szyk’s rarest and most significant work. No complete copy has appeared for sale at auction in several decades. "If The Haggadah is viewed as Szyk’s most famous work, surely his Statute of Kalisz is his single most important historic work. Reflecting the highest form of medieval manuscript illumination, this portfolio often has been called “The Jewish Magna Carta." With the affirmation of civil and religious liberties and freedoms for Jews by the Grand Duke of Poland, Boleslav the Pious, in 1264, the Golden Age of Polish Jewry was initiated. In this work, Szyk illuminates the mutually beneficial relationship that flourished between Poles and Jews for hundreds of years." I. Ungar, Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk (1998) p.15. “J.P. Roland-Marcel called the illumination of the Statute of Kalisz Szyk’s masterpiece and claimed that it placed him on the same level as the best illuminators of the sixteenth century.” See J.P. Ansell, Arthur Szyk: Artist, Jew, Pole (2004) pp.51-61