Hagadah shel Pesach - L’Haggadà Illustrata.

(HAGADAH).

Colombo Coen (Jonah Cohen)

Trieste

1864

Finely illustrated by C. Kirchmayr with 58 copper-plates. Edited by Abraham Vita Morpurgo. Hebrew text with Italian translation. Musical arrangements on final leaf

Yudlov 1217; Yaari 899.

“The Trieste Hagadah is undoubtedly the most distinguished illustrated edition produced in Europe during the nineteenth century.” (Yerushalmi 102-105). Different in format and design from any edition that preceded it, the Trieste Hagadah’s engraved illustrations, though inspired by the iconographic themes of the past, display a welcome freshness of design. Two issues were published simultaneously, one entirely in Hebrew and the other accompanied by an Italian translation. A direct depiction of God appears on p. 52, a most unusual occurrence in Jewish art: Moses kneels before the Burning Bush in which God’s bearded face is clearly discernible. See C. Roth, Printed Illuminated Haggadoth, in: Aresheth, Vol. III, pp. 27-8; British Library Exhibition Catalogue, Sacred (2007) p. 160.