Unknown Variant!
Illustrated Passover Haggadah
Trieste, 1864
Haggadah with Italian translation by Rabbi Avraham Chai Morforgo with 58 copperplate illustrations and music notes.
The Trieste Haggadah is renowned as one of the most elaborate Haggadahs ever printed!
The Haggadah features striking font, initials and decorative letters, along with 58 copperplate illustrations drawn by maestro C. Kirchmayr whose autograph appears on the corner of the title page and initials on every drawing. The Hebrew text and its Italian translation are positioned on facing columns.
In his acclaimed article HaHaggadah Hametzuyeres B’Dfus (Areshes 3, 1961 pps. 27-8), Betzalel Roth writes that there is but one 19th-century Haggadah worthy of creating a new legacy in illustrated Hebrew literature, and this is the Haggadah printed in Trieste in 1864. “The typeset is particularly impressive, and the text is complemented by 58 copperplate illustrations, with drawings added to almost every page. Aside from the traditional illustrations, there are numerous unusual drawings of the conquest of Jericho, downfall of Sancherev, feats of Belshatzar and more."
This is a very rare and unknown variant of the Haggadah. In regular copies, there is an Italian introduction originally printed on the second leaf, after the title page. Here it is completely omitted!
Instead of the introduction leaf, which is found after the title page, there is an original blank leaf, before the title page.
Additionally, the words "Proprietà Letteraria" (literary property) which appear in all regular copies on the back of the title page, were also omitted.
To the best of Zaidy’s knowledge, this variant has not been recorded in any bibliographic database!
Trieste, 1864. First edition.
Page Count: [1], 64, [2] pages.
Size: 32.2 cm.
Condition: Minor stains and characteristic signs of use. Tears (without loss) in margins of several pages. One page has a minor printing defect.
Antique binding with green leather spine and gold engraving. Minor wear on binding (binding boards are not completely flat).
Bibliography: The regular edition – Otzar HaHaggados, #1217; Yaari, Haggados, #899. As mentioned, this unique variant is not recorded there.
